Song above for Chapter: "We Walk Through The Fire" by Zayde Wolf ft. Ruelle

ELENORA

"I'll call you when I'm on my way home, okay?" Rico holds my face.

"Sounds good," I give him a quick kiss. "Be careful."

He pecks my lips three times.

"Tell Angela I know she can do this and that we'll have a huge celebration here when she's done."

Rico gives me a warm smile. "I will, love."

He climbs in the SUV with Smiley, Ciccio and Domani. I wave as they pull away from the house and head down the road.

"So, what's on the agenda for tonight?" Mostro questions as we walk through the front door.

"First, I'm going to put Matty down, then I need to develop some film. Would you mind keeping an eye on him while I'm in the red room?"

"Of course not."

I grab the diaper bag and begin digging through it not finding Matty's lovey. Shit!

"What's wrong?"

"I think we left Matty's lovey at my parents house. He's not going to go down without it."

"Maybe it fell out in the car, I'll go check." Mostro heads out the front door.

Matty begins to fuss and cry in his car seat. I unbuckle him and lift him out of it. "Sorry, amore, we might have left your lovey with Nonno and Nonna.

Mostro walks back in, "Bad news it's not in the car."

My phone rings and I pull it out and see Jackie is calling me.

"Hey, Jackie."

"Nora..." Her voice cuts in and out.

" Jackie? Can you hear me?"

Her phone keeps cutting in and out. "Yeah, I...I'm...Listen...do...think...could...back?"

"Jackie, your phone keeps cutting out."

There's static on her end before the call ends. I pull my phone away and notice I have no signal.

"What's up?" Mostro asks.

"I thought Jackie's phone was cutting in and out, but I guess it was mine. I have no signal. Do you?"

He pulls his phone out and tries to send a message, but it doesn't go through; his eyebrows furrow. "That ain't good."

"I'm sure it's a service outage or something."

I head to the family room where I last remember keeping my laptop and look up our carrier service and check if there are any updates on service interruptions.

"There, see?" I point at the screen. "It says it right there, 'experiencing critical server error', "

Mostro leans over to read it. "Construction area accident," he finishes reading the update.

"Well, I'll go to your parent's house and grab Matty's lovey."

I give him a look and cross my arms. "Come on, Mostro. I can go and I'll be quick. Plus I need to see what Jackie needs."

"We have no way of contacting any of the other men right now, which means, I'd have to stay with little Matty—which I don't mind, you know I don't—but the issue is no one available to go with you."

I exhale frustrated. "There's always someone around here." I walk out of the room and into the hallway.

"Not tonight, remember?" Mostro follows me. "Rico gave most of the men the night off since the change is happening by next week and the only ones here are the ones on guard duty of the house."

"Okay, well, I'm sure we can spare one person to watch Matty and you can come with me, or they can."

Mostro stands firm, however. "No. Nora, with how things have gone the last few months, I'm sure whatever Jackie needs can wait until tomorrow."

"I'm sure you're right, but seeing as my call was cut, if they can't get a hold of me, they'll think something happened, Mostro."

I can see him weigh out the options and curses, muttering under his breath.

"I'd rather you stay with Matty, Mostro. There's no one else I'd trust with him anyway."

"I'm fucked either way, boss will kill me if something happens to either of you."

"Don't think that way." I check my phone again hoping the signal or service is working, but the icon tells me there's still no service. "It'll be quick."

"Right, you and your sisters can talk for hours," Mostro says, still looking uneasy. He glances down the hallway as Gianny walks towards us.

"Mostro, is your phone working?"

"No, service is out," Mostro looks at him then back at me before he focuses on Gianny again. "Gianny, I need you to accompany Nora to her parents home. I don't need to remind you what will happen to you if you let anything happen to Nora, do I?"

He shakes his head. "If I let anything happen to Ms. Nora, Boss will make me wish I was never born and feed my chopped up body parts to the dogs. I'm all clear on it."

I roll my eyes. "He wouldn't do that."

They both give me the 'you know we ain't lying' look. "Let's go Gianny. If Rico gets back before I do, please tell him not to freak out."

Mostro snorts in response.

Gianny and I get in an SUV and pull away from the house. "Are you going to school, Gianny?"

He laughs. "Hell no."

"School's important, Gianny."

"You sound like, Boss," He sighs. "He didn't want to hire me when Mickey introduced me to him. Said I'm too young to get into this business, but it's all I know. He said he'd pay for my schooling and tutoring," He shakes his head. "He doesn't even know me, why would he offer me something like that?"

"Because he sees potential in you," I smile, thinking of Rico; he may be known to be ruthless, and has a hardened reputation, but he also has a big heart.

"Nah, school ain't for me. I barely graduated as it was, ain't no way in hell, I'd make it in college, man."

I chuckle. "I think you'd be surprised what you could do if you really tried, with the right help, too." I tell him, checking my phone again. "Are you and Mickey really close?"

"Yeah, even though we're cousins, he's like an older brother. He's hella smart, too. His moms took me in when I was four after my parents were killed."

"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that."

"S'okay. I...I don't even remember my parents," He tells me but I notice the saddened tone in his voice, before he clears his throat. "I hear you take pictures. Is that a hobby or like do you do that professionally and shit?"

I smile. "I went to school for it, so professionally."

"No offense, but wasn't that like a waste of money? Like how hard is it to point a camera and click a button?" He asks and I laugh.

"It does seem pointless when you put it that way." I keep laughing. "But there's more to it and it also depends on what type of photography you want to go into."

His eyebrows furrow.

"There's over twenty plus different types of photography," I explain.

"What?" He exclaims, surprised.

"The common ones are portraits, still life, landscape, food, pets, wildlife, sports, fashion. But there are a ton of others."

"Wow, I guess, I didn't realize all the different types there are," He says with a contemplative look on his face. We sit and listen to the music playing from the radio as the drive goes on.

He rubs his neck. "I like taking pictures of nature."

"Yeah?" I turn to him."I'd love to see some of your pictures."

When we stop at a light, he pulls his phone out and opens it."I don't have a lot on this phone because it's new, but these are some I've taken in the last month."

I scroll through the pictures and I'm pleasantly surprised. They're beautiful. Some are back and white, some in grayscale but most are in color.

"Gianny, these are amazing." I keep scrolling. "You have a good eye and you're very talented."

He grins over at me. "You think so?"

"I know so." I finish going through the pictures and hand him his phone back.

"Listen, I know you may not be into going to college, but there are trade schools for photography too and I have a few people I can talk to. If you'd like, of course."

He tucks his phone back in the pocket of his suit jacket and smiles. "I'll think about it."

When we pull up to my parent's street I notice the gate is open.

There's a couple of cars I don't recognize parked in front of the house. I check my phone and still have no service.

"Doesn't Rico keep extra burners in the cars?" I pull open the glove compartment and answer my own question when I see three inside.

"Ah ha!" I exclaim triumphantly. I grab one and open it; I pull my phone out to type in Rico's number when we hear a gunshot go off from within the house.

"Stay here." Gianny pulls out his gun and hops out of the car.

I jump out and follow him but he stops and tells me to get back inside the car. "My family is in there, Gianny. What if whoever's in there comes out here? I don't have a gun or anything."

He looks like he's fighting internally with himself and then he sighs. "Fine, but stay behind me, no matter what."

I nod and follow him up the stairs. He opens the door peeking inside and then looks up and around before pushing the door wider. Immediately, I see a couple of the house servants I've known my whole life lying in a pool of blood, their throats slashed.

Crying sounds travel from within the house and my heart beats out of my chest. My thoughts go to whoever is crying and who the bullet was meant for. Several people begin talking all at once down the hall.

"I think they're in my father's study," I tell Gianny and guide him to where he needs to go.

"How many rooms are upstairs?"

"Seven."

"Shit," Gianny looks around. "We need to make sure no one else is upstairs."

A scream has me rushing towards my fathers's study, but Gianny pulls me back.

"No, we need to make sure no one else is here. Call Rico from the burner phone, he needs to know what's going on." He starts making his way upstairs as I type in Rico's number from my phone into the burner and begin typing a quick text.

But my attempt is cut short when we see a man in dark clothing walk out of Jackie's room. His back is to us, and Gianny pushes me against the wall into the shadows of the hallway.

The man goes into Luna's room next and as he approaches us, Gianny hands me his gun and unsheathes a long knife from his hip.

Gianny lets him walk past us and comes up behind him, slashing his lower calves then plunges the knife into the man's side. The man groans and turns around but Gianny moves quickly slashing at the man before he can do anything. The man holds his throat as blood sprays out and he falls over.

"Call the boss, now," Gianny orders. I do as he tells me but he doesn't answer, probably from not recognizing the number.

I wait until it goes to voicemail. "Rico, it's Nora. I'm at my parents house. Matty's at home with Mostro. Gianny is with me. Something is wrong, get here quick!"

I crouch down and grab the gun from the man's back, Gianny killed. Soft crying grabs my attention and we move towards the sound.

The crying is coming from Maya's room. I don't see anyone at first, but then I crouch down and see Mia huddled towards the far end under the bed. "Maya, it's me. It's Nora."

"Nora?" She whimpers.

"Yes, it's me, cucciola. Come on out," I coax her. (little cub)

She crawls out from under the bed and hugs me tight. "They killed Nonno, Martina and Carlo," She sobs.

"Who's here?"

"That mean lady; Rico's aunt," She cries even harder. "She said she's going to kill all of us, but you have to go, Nora. She made Jackie call you while she held a knife at Mamma's neck to get you to come back. She said she's going to make you watch."

There's a thundering of footsteps rushing up the stairs and Gianny yells at me to run. "You can't take them all by yourself, Gianny!"

"Go!" He yells.

"Maya," I look her in the eyes. "You need to go out the balcony and climb down the lattice against the house. Here take this, call Rico. His number is the one I just called. Tell him Rosetta is here."

"I can't, Nora."

"Maya, you need to." I hug her briefly. "There isn't time, now go, please!"

I open the door to her balcony and push her out, shutting the door and locking it, trying not to focus on the sound of her crying.

I follow Gianny as he waits by the door. "They got Franco." We hear someone say.

"Eyes open boys," Another voice says. "Looks like we're going hunting."

I take deep breaths to calm my heavy breathing. They'll hear me for sure if I don't stop panting.

Gianny signals for me to go down the back set of stairs. I shake my head no at him, but he gestures again using his hands more forcibly. I inhale and exhale, resigning to do as he says and make my way through the shadows of the house when more bullets erupt and I fight with the instinct to go back to Gianny.

I come to the back set of stairs in the house that will lead me closer to my fathers study and move with uncertainty to them. I step down the first stair when I'm pulled back by my hair and I grunt from the pain of it.

Turning around, I shoot the gun at whoever is behind me, twice. The grip on my hair tightens before it relaxes and the man falls, tumbling down the staircase.

There's no point in being quiet now and run down. I stop short when my nonno's lifeless body stares back at me at the bottom of the stairs. There are two bullets in his chest and one in his head.

I stare down at him for a moment before stepping over him to keep going, making my way to my father's study. There aren't any sounds or voices coming from inside the room like I expected.

Taking a chance I open the door and my family all look up shocked when they see me. "Nora, piccola, get out of here," My father pants, he's bleeding from his stomach. My mother's makeup is running in streaks down her face as she holds my fathers shirt over his stomach. Her hair is a disheveled mess. I look around at my sisters and their clothes are tousled and torn; they are huddled close together, crying and trembling.

"What did she do?"

My mother screams for me to run but it's too late as I'm grabbed and a knife is held to my throat by one of Rosetta's henchmen.

"The same thing I'm going to do to you, Elenora," Rosetta says from behind me.

"I've mastered the art of letting others do the hard work while I get to sit back and enjoy," She walks around and faces me.

"You're father, unlike me, didn't seem to enjoy watching the virtue being brutally taken from your sisters as I did when I watched my sister get beaten, tortured and assaulted the night she was killed." She tsks and then looks back at my father.

"But after I shot him, he had no choice but to sit and watch and listen. Isn't that right, Tiziano?"

"Rico is going to kill you, Rosetta," I say through my teeth.

Rosetta laughs. "He hasn't yet, has he? After everything, he still can't do it. I think it's his loyalty and understanding—that without me he would not be where he is or who he is, Elenora."

The man holding me moves me forward toward my family.

"You took his innocence away. You fed him lies and hardened his heart since he was a little boy!" I seeth, struggling to get out of the man's hold.

"I made him stronger. My sister would have raised him to be a weak, sniveling, spineless man." She grips my chin hard. "Who else is here with you?"

"No one."

Rosetta cackles. "You mean to tell me you took out five of my men on your own?" She turns to face me. "Rico would not let you go out on your own."

"Rico's been training me. I'd love to show you a few things, that is if you're not afraid," I bait her hoping she falls for it.

"I wasn't just born into this life, little girl, I was made for it." She straightens herself. "But alas, I don't have time for this."

She glances at her phone. "Right about now, Rico is probably fighting to keep Mateo safe from a group of men sent to your home."

"Rico isn't home."

"Oh?" She raises an eyebrow. "Even better then. I didn't want to have to kill him, but unlike him, I'm willing to do anything to get what I want. It won't be long before Mateo is put on an airplane."

"What?" I fail at keeping the panic out of my voice.

"Oh, you thought I was here for you? No, no, no, no, no," She smiles evilly. "I'm taking Mateo. I get another chance of getting it right by raising Mateo as my own. I learn from my mistakes unlike you, cara. Just imagine, twenty years from now, Mateo will have long forgotten you and will only know me as his mother. And the family should stay under the rule of a Di Maggio, not some lackey who has no right to what we built."

She smiles back at me viciously. "By the time Rico figures out what's going on, Mateo will be gone, and so will you and your entire pathetic family."

She walks to where my mom and dad are and grabs my mom by the hair. "Let's start with your mother shall we?" My mother grimaces in pain. Jackie holds my dad back as he tries to get up, grunting loud with pain.

"I promise you, you won't live beyond tonight, Rosetta," I vow.

"We'll see about that won't we?" She cocks the gun under my mom's chin.

"I would listen to my sister, if I were you."

I shut my eyes tight at the sound of Maya's voice. "Nora always keeps her promises."

Tears spill over my face. "Maya, why did you come back?"

Maya focuses on Rosetta. "Rico, told me to tell Rosetta, 'run'."

"Run?" Rosetta repeats, lowering the gun from my mother's chin.

"Yes, he said 'run' and..." Maya stops and looks up at the ceiling like she's trying to remember something. "Raccogliamo ciò che seminiamo." (We reap what we sow).

"Oh and Matty is safe, Nora," She smiles at me but Rosetta raises her gun towards Maya and my mother fights for control of the gun. I shout at my sisters to grab Maya.

The knife against my throat stings as I feel it slice me, fighting to get out of the man's hold, but I focus on disarming him, kicking him between the legs. He falls on his knees groaning in pain. I run towards my mom and Rosetta and wrap my arms around Rosetta's neck.

She lets go of my mother and focuses on getting me off of her back.

"Get out of here!" I shout at my family.

There's grunting and what sounds like people throwing punches behind me. I can only assume Gianny is here, fighting with the man that held me.

I get a better grip on Rosetta's neck and begin squeezing like Rico trained me. However, I didn't expect her to flip me over her back, but I keep my hold and cinch my legs around her waist. She rolls over me and throws a sharp elbow at my side, causing me to exhale in pain.

She does it again and I can't keep my hold on her. She scrambles away but I hold on to her leg and pull her down, causing her to fall forward. Her gun clatters and glides a few feet from us.

Rosetta starts to move forward towards it, but I crawl over her and punch her twice before she rolls under me and shoves me away. We stand and face each other; she wipes at the small drip of blood on her nose before she looks at me.

"I guess you're getting your wish, Elenora." She gets in a fighting stance and grins at me.

Rico's voice comes to mind when he would tell me to make a move first, when I practiced against him, Mostro or Ciccio. Over her shoulder, I notice Gianny and the other guard are still fighting. They are both using knives now.

I focus back on Rosetta and lunge forward with a quick combination, but she dodges me easily. She might be older than me but there's no doubt she knows what she's doing. She comes back at me with a few punches of her own and I barely move out of the way to not get hit. But then she grabs my arm and twists it and then turns abruptly, throwing a knife out in front of us.

"No!" I watch helplessly as the knife plunges into Gianny's stomach who was coming straight for us with his gun out.

He looks down at the knife. Blood begins to seep through his white shirt and then he stumbles forward, falling on his knees. There's fear in his eyes when he raises his head to look back at me.

I elbow Rosetta and turn, grabbing her head, bringing it down on my knee. I rush over to Gianny who's now face down, I roll him over and he coughs; blood pours out of his mouth.

"I'm sorry," he gasps.

"Don't be sorry," I tell him as I push his black hair back, but his eyes widen as he looks above me and Rosetta pulls me by my hair, up onto my feet.

"You should have made sure I was finished before coming to check on the boy, Elenora," She spits blood out to the side of us. "You're too soft for this life."

"She's stronger than you, Rosetta." She grabs my arm, twisting it and holds me against her as we face Domani.

Smiley, Ciccio, Mostro and even Renzo are standing at his sides, aiming their guns at us. For a moment, my mind goes to Matty since Mostro is here and then Mickey runs into my father's study next. The blood drains from his face, finding Gianny on the floor; struggling and choking on his blood.

"The boy's not going to make it," Rosetta announces. "He fought well, took most of my men out on his own. How old is he, anyway? You know we never hired anyone younger than twenty before; he looks like he just graduated high school." She laughs mockingly.

"Help him," I plead with Domani, but his eyes are trained on Rosetta and the knife she has on my throat.

"Anyone moves, and you'll all watch me drain the life out of the girl who single handedly destroyed everything I have ever worked for."

"You have no one to blame but yourself." Domani steps forward which makes her change the angle of the knife and he stops. "You're not getting out of here alive, Rosetta."

She cackles loudly. "Elenora said the same thing, yet, you and I both know you won't kill me, Domani. Do you know why?"

Domani doesn't say anything, his eyes move to mine for a moment and his jaw muscles twitch.

"Because we're family, Domani."

"It's okay, Domani," I encourage him. Although, the only person I've seen shoot and kill the person behind me like this before was Rico. Where is he?

"Isn't that sweet?" Rosetta rubs her cheek against mine as she stares ahead at the guys.

Domani gives a small jerk with his head to the side, but I don't know if I'm seeing things. Then Ciccio does it, too. I'm not sure I know what they're telling me, but I trust they will do what they need to.

I stomp on Rosetta's foot as hard as I can and elbow her to get out of her hold. Mostro grabs me, pulling me behind him.

Rosetta turns to make a run for it and runs straight into Rico, who holds her back by the shoulder and then plunges a large knife into her stomach.

"Rico..." She gasps, looking down between them and then back at him. She starts to sag against him.

"You came for my son!" Rico roars and yells as he drives the knife into her further then twists it. Rosetta inhales sharply.

She struggles to speak as blood oozes out of her mouth. "Figlio...mio..." (my son)

He falls down slowly holding onto her; pain and anguish reflect on his face as he looks down at her. She slides out of his arms and onto the floor. Her lifeless eyes stare up at the ceiling. His shirt and hands are covered in her blood.

Rico yells out in anger and pain; I move around Mostro but he holds me back and I take notice now of the bruises and cuts on his face, telling me he fought to keep Matty safe.

"It's okay, Mostro; get help for Gianny," I hug him tight. "Thank you for keeping Matty safe."

"An ambulance is on the way for your dad, we didn't know about Gianny," Domani tells me.

"See if Jackie's able to help until they get here. Where's Matty?"

"He's with Clara," Ciccio tells me.

I make my way to Rico, kneeling down next to him, the bloody knife lies in between us.

"I'm so sorry, Rico." I reach out for him and he turns to me, holding me so tight I struggle to breathe. He buries his face into neck, muffling his cries.

"No. Elenora, I'm sorry. I wasn't strong enough to stop her from the beginning; if I had, this wouldn't have happened, she wouldn't have come for your family...she wouldn't have tried to take Matty from us." My shirt is becoming damp from his tears.

"It's over now, Rico." I rub my hands down the back of his neck and shoulders. "What can I do? What do you need?"

"You." He holds me even tighter. "Only you."

The paramedics come in and start working on Gianny. They cut his shirt open and look at the wound on his stomach, while another opens his mouth and begins inserting a tube down his throat.

"Rico, Duko is here," Domani informs us.

The detective walks in and takes in the scene around him. "Federico, Signora Di Maggio," He nods acknowledging us.

"Pretty straight forward home invasion," Duko glances around again.

My stomach turns as he shares the next bit of information. "Mr. Borrelli, says each of the women were beaten and assaulted with the exception of the youngest Borelli, while he was forced to watch."

Tears fall thinking of what my family endured. I squeeze Rico's hand feeling the anger start to take him again.

"One of the assailants found upstairs is conscious; but he isn't talking," The detective tells us.

"He's mine," Rico informs him.

"You know I can't let you take him, Rico, not yet anyway," Duko tells him. "I'll let you know when the paperwork and processing is done. Do you two need medical attention?"

We both shake our heads. "It's not my blood," Rico informs him.

"What about those cuts?" Duko points to my neck and my hand lands on one of the cuts I have.

I look at the blood on my hands. "It's not that bad, I just need to clean them up."

But Rico removes my hands and takes a closer look. "Let's have them look at you just in case." He leads me out of my fathers' study.

Once we are in the foyer of the house, my mother rushes toward me crying hysterically as she engulfs me in a hug.

"Elenora, thank God you're okay. What were you thinking taking her on the way you did? Huh?" She shakes me by the shoulders, but her natural instinct to be upset at me is outweighed by her relief and emotional exhaustion and she pulls me into a tight embrace.

"How's pop?" I ask.

"He's okay considering. They are loading him into the ambulance to take him to the hospital." She steps back and then pulls Rico into a hug.

"This is not your fault, Federico," She squeezes him and then cups his face. "You are ours now, never forget that."

A paramedic approaches and he cleans and places a bandage on the cut I have on my neck.

"Da da da da"

Clara walks in through the door with Matty in her arms. "He's literally saying that to everyone out there." She smiles at him, kissing his cheek.

I chuckle at the frown on Rico's face.

"It's just his favorite thing to say right now." I nudge Rico before I walk over and grab Matty, breathing in his sweet scent, holding him against me. Rico walks over to us and unbuttons his bloody shirt, taking it off before he wraps his arms around both of us.

"Lets go mia famiglia. Matty needs to go to bed." He lets out a deep sigh. Matty responds by babbling and slapping his chest. (my family)

"He does, but I want to be there when my dad comes out of surgery and I want to be there for Gianny, too," I tell him.

"You're right," Rico kisses my head.

"I'll take Matty home," Clara offers, making a silly face at Matty and he smiles wide at her. "Domani will come with me and whoever else you want to send."

Rico is hesitant to leave him Matty again. "Boss, I'll head back to the house," Ciccio tells him. "Maya can come with us too, she shouldn't have to wait in the hospital this late."

"I'll go too, Boss," Smiley walks up to us, and I can't help noticing he still refers to Rico as 'boss'.

"I appreciate it," Rico nods and then Domani walks up to us and takes his shirt off handing it to Rico.

"Don't need you distracting the health care workers now do we?" He teases and Rico narrows his eyes at him before slipping the shirt on. They hug each other before Domani heads out the door wrapping his arm around Clara.

Renzo approaches us next. "If you need anything, cuz, just name it."

"Thanks, Renzo." They hug each other and he hugs me, too, before he leaves.

"Rico," Duko walks with us out of my parents home. "Surveillance footage corroborates Borelli's account of what happened. We're taking the one member of Rosetta's crew back to the station for processing. He still hasn't said much other than he'd take his chances in prison, instead of dealing with you."

"That's fine, I have people on the inside, too," Rico replies.

Duko smiles. "I told him that, too." They shake hands and Rico leads me to a car opening the door for me to get in.

Once he's inside he leans over, holding me while he lays his head on my chest. We sit in the car for a few minutes, holding each other before Rico breaks the silence.

"You and Matty are all I have left," He tightens his arms around me. "It will never be enough to apologize for all the pain and hurt I've caused you or your family, Elenora. But you are everything to me and I love you with everything that I am." He leans away and holds my face. "Sei la mia anima gemella e il tuo amore mi ha trovato e mi ha salvato nell'oscurità in cui vivevo." (You are my soulmate and your love found and saved me in the darkness I lived in).

He presses his lips on mine and kisses me sweetly. "No one will love someone as much as I love you, Elenora." He leans his head on mine.

"That's not true. I'm pretty sure I'd give you a run for your money on that one."

He chuckles and nuzzles my neck, and lets out a heavy sigh.

"You saved me too, Federico. I wasn't in a good place in my mind or heart when we met. Even though the reasons for our paths to cross weren't ideal, I can't imagine my life without you."

He kisses my hands and I pull his face toward me, taking my time kissing him, wanting him to know and feel everything he means to me.

"If I don't stop we might end up giving everyone who's still here a show they didn't intend to see."

I pepper his face with kisses. "The windows are fogged up, they wouldn't see much."

"They'd sure as hell hear you though, mia patatina," He responds but I move towards his neck now.

"What have I done to you?" He groans as I kiss the sensitive part of his skin.

"You loved me."

He pecks my lips three times. "Alright, let's go to the hospital to check on everyone and then I'm taking you home to worship you the rest of the night, my wife."

He rests his hand on my leg as we pull away from my parents home. I place my hand over his and lean on him. Despite the horrific things that happened tonight, to us and my family, I know we'll move on and continue to fight to make our own happiness.

And even though our love was not something either of us expected to find, I know it's the kind of love that shines brightest when found in darkness.

***

The End

A/N: Thank you to all re-readers who took the time to re-read the story after I split the original book, to all the new readers, and for those who commented, voted and shared my story! And of course all of the silent readers too! I cannot express how much I appreciate every one of you!