Bound by Duty (Born in Blood Mafia Chronicles, #2)

by Cora Reilly

“He’ll be the Boss of the Outfit in two months, and when you marry him you’ll be the most influential woman in Chicago and the Midwest.

But he was known for being closed off, so who knew what was really going on in that head of his?

Of course, I’d been naïve, hadn’t realized what it would really mean to marry a man who wasn’t interested in me, or women in general.

“That’s not young by our marriage standards.” “Twelve years younger than me. That’s more than I would have liked.”

His deceased wife had been only two years younger than him, and they’d been married for almost twelve years before she’d died from cancer.

“Good, I suppose then I can feel safe.” It was meant as a joke, but Dante looked deathly serious. “You are safe.”

Seeing Aria’s happiness gave me hope. If she could make it work with someone like Luca, then I could make it work with Dante.

As I led them into the lobby, Dante followed close behind as if he was worried Luca would do something to me, which was highly unlikely.

It had been way before our marriage, and yet the knowledge that Dante had slept with prostitutes, but hadn’t even tried to kiss me, hurt a lot. “So he has no problem sleeping with other women, he just doesn’t want to sleep with me.”

A moan slipped out of my lips, and there was a sharp intake of breath. My eyes flew open and I stared at Dante; he stood in the doorway, hand on the door handle and eyes on me.

I’d occasionally put one finger into myself but never understood the appeal. This, however, was amazing.

“That’s not what I meant. But I thought you weren’t attracted by my body.” Dante gave me a strange look. “Don’t worry. Your body would leave few members of the male species unaffected.”

He felt so warm and strong. He felt like he was mine.

“You are mine, Valentina.”

“If you had a secret you needed to hide, I would keep it for you. I would try to brave torture, pain and death to hide it for you.”

Dante bit my neck. “But I don’t want to cause you pain.”

A flicker of something softer filled his eyes before he excused himself and headed back to his car.

I tried to figure out if I could construe his words as traitorous, but sadly they were only mildly critical. Nothing that would cause Dante to put a bullet in Tommaso’s head.

“Every moment of the day I think of the things I want to do with you, catch myself remembering your taste, your smell. Sometimes I think I’ll go insane if I don’t bury myself in you.”

The iceman was eager for me.

He relaxed, wrapped an arm around my shoulder, and I finally dared to snuggle closer against him.

Inside the small velvet box rested a delicate white gold necklace with an emerald pendant. I stumbled out of bed and hurried toward my vanity, holding it up against my eyes. The emerald had almost exactly the same color. That couldn’t have been a coincidence.

“I shouldn’t forgive you,” he said between grunts, accentuating every word with a hard thrust. “But for some reason, I can’t stay mad at you.”

Dante was watching me with something close to warmth in his eyes.

Despite everything Dante had said and done, he was my husband and I had come to love him, no matter how stupid that made me. He was the father of my child, even if he didn’t want to believe it.

I’d chosen Dante, and I’d choose him again. He was my husband, he was the father of my unborn child, he was the man I loved even if he’d never given me reason

don’t give a fuck about the seat, or the car, or anything right now. You are all that matters.”

“I’m not sugarcoating anything. I told you the truth. I’m happy that we’re having a daughter. I’ll be happy about every child we have. I’m not going to lie—many people in the Outfit will see it as something less desirable. They will only really congratulate me once you’re pregnant with a boy, but I don’t care about them. You’re still young, and we have time. We’ll have more children and maybe there’ll be a boy among them. But for now let’s be happy about our daughter.”