*Cat*
It was crazy to think it had been two months already since our trip to Italy. It all seed a little surreal, being out of the mafia... well, almost. Elio had been slowly pulling back from it all, but I’d been staying out of everything for the most part to focus on packing up our old life.
Elio had been a huge help with packing, thankfully. I hadn’t realized how much stuff we had until we started boxing stuff up. It felt never ending. We had only been two days in to packing when he’d suggested we use movers, but I hated the idea of letting strangers into our ho, touching our things, and being in our business. I didn’t mind them moving the boxes themselves, but I wanted to do the packing.
I could’ve blad it on living so long within the mafia lifestyle, but the truth was that I never really trusted anyone, especially after all the ss with Junior.
Luckily, almost everything had been packed and sent over to our new ho in New York City already. We still had so of the smaller, more every day essential things to finish throwing into boxes.
As exhausting as it’d been going through all of our stuff, it made feel excited as well. We were finally getting out, leaving it all behind for good. We were starting over in a new city, a new ho.
We would finally be safe.
My mother was moving with us, which of course I was thrilled about, especially because I had been thinking about going back to school once we got settled into our new life. Having my mother with us to help watch Emilia would be amazing. I definitely didn’t trust anyone else to watch her.
I wasn’t entirely sure yet about going back to school, but I was sure I wanted to help Elio with the real estate developnt business. I loved working with him, and I didn’t want that to co to an end.
It had taken us a few conversations before deciding to expand the business to the east coast. For a while, he wasn’t sure what he wanted to do once we left, but bringing his legitimate business with us seed like the best idea.
I would have been lying if I’d said I wasn’t slightly worried about how he would adjust to only being a real estate developer. There really wasn’t any danger in developing property. But there also wasn’t any action. I hoped the mundane day-to-day would be enough for him to still be happy.
Although, the past two months had been wonderful. Elio, Emilia, and I hadn’t spent this much ti together, well, ever. It was really nice. It felt like we were finally free, like we were a normal family.
It felt good, I had to admit. I was beyond ready to officially be done here and to be moved into our new ho.
“I’m insisting you take a break with and get so food in your stomach,” Elio said, popping his head through the doorfra of our bedroom.
“Well, if you are insisting, then I’d better obey my husband, huh?” I teased, wrapping too much packing tape over the box I’d just finished filling.
I picked Emilia up and followed Elio to our kitchen. Since we’d given the cooks ti off during the commotion of the move, we’d been stuffing our fridge with take-out. We’d already hired new cooks for the New York City ho, but these were staying here for Leo since they’d been fully vetted by the mafia.
“Chinese, Thai, or pizza?” Elio asked.
“Pizza,” I replied, putting Emilia in her highchair.
“Sounds perfect. Should we heat it up in the oven or eat it cold?” he asked, placing the two containers full of sliced pizza on the counter.
“What kind is it?” I asked.
“Looks like there are so slices of pineapple, pepperoni, and sausage and mushroom,” he replied.
“I’ll just eat the pineapple cold,” I told him, reaching for the paper plates.
We sat down at the table, cold slices of pizza in front of us, and I couldn’t help but to feel so happy. Even though we didn’t have a nice ho cooked al served on real plates, I was happy that we were so close to our new life.
“How did the talk go with Gio?” I asked after swallowing a bite.
“It went really well, actually,” he replied, smiling.
“Good. I’m glad. Was he happy?” I asked, already knowing the answer.
Giovanni Valentino never wanted his son to go into the life he’d left behind to protect him. Their relationship had been damaged when Elio took it upon himself to beco what his father tried to keep him from becoming.
Now that Elio was leaving, I’d been hoping he and Gio would patch things up and work on having a better relationship.
“Of course,” he chuckled, shaking his head. “I think things between us will be a lot better from now on.”
I smiled, feeling relieved. “I’m so happy for you, Elio. That’s wonderful.”
He placed his hand over mine. “I’m happy too.”
After we finished dinner, Elio offered to give Emilia her bath. I kissed them both before they disappeared into the bathroom. I went back into the bedroom to continue packing a few more things before it got too late.
Once a few more boxes had been filled and taped up, I went into the bathroom in our bedroom suite to grab a quick shower. I turned it on before removing my clothes to allow the water to get nice and hot. My muscles were feeling a little sore from packing, and I figured a hot shower would help to relax .
As I stood under the falling water, I found myself thinking about the events that would take place the next night. There was going to be a party to announce the new Don. I felt incredibly excited and couldn’t wait to see the look on everyone’s faces when Elio announced who he had chosen to take his place.
Though, maybe I was more excited that it would finally be ti for Elio to officially step down. There would be no more calls from Franky requiring Elio to run off to et him at the warehouse in the middle of the night, no more enemies trying to kidnap one of us or play a never-ending ga of cat and mouse.
It was all about to be over. Everything in our lives seed to be falling into place all around us, and I couldn’t be happier.
Once I had washed all the soap off my body and the conditioner out of my hair, I turned the water off. I stepped out into a cloud of fog, grabbing the plush erald-green towel off the hook.
“There you are.” I heard my husband’s voice through the thick fog.
“Here I am,” I replied sleepily. “Is Emilia asleep already?”
“Our beautiful baby girl is out cold,” he said, walking up behind .
“Thank you,” I said, feeling grateful.
As much as I loved putting Emilia to bed, I had to admit I was feeling rather tired and was still a little sore. I had felt ready to lie down myself.
Elio wrapped his arms around from behind as I wiped the foggy mirror to do my hair. “Look at you. You are so beautiful.”
I blushed, looking at both of our reflections. “And you are incredibly handso,” I said, turning around to face him.
“Would you mind if I removed your towel from your dripping wet body?” he asked, already dropping the towel to the floor.
I smiled, knowing what he was about to do next. The hair could wait.
“As you wish,” I replied.
Elio gently pressed his lips to mine. His movents were slow and soft as if our bodies had been whispering to each other. He wasn’t in a rush to achieve the end result. Rather, he wanted to taste his food before swallowing it whole.
His clothes ca off piece by piece as we had made our way into the bedroom. His skin was warm against mine, almost burning to the touch. I placed my lips on his neck, kissing before sinking my teeth in softly.
Elio sat on the bed, his back against the headboard. I climbed on top of him, letting his length push inside as I lowered myself onto his lap. I wrapped my arms around his neck, pushing his head between my breasts as our bodies created the sa rhythm.
I loved the fast paced, slightly rough sex Elio and I had often, but there was sothing about the slower, more passionate sex we’d been having recently. It was like I was the only thing that mattered to him at that mont. It was sohow peaceful, the way we’d get lost in each other for hours.
It was even more peaceful now that we knew no one would ever interrupt us again like Franky and Leo used to do when sothing bad happened. Because nothing bad was ever going to happen again, I assured myself.
I lifted his head up toward mine, bringing my lips to his. Sweat trickled down his forehead. I brushed it away with my thumb as he gripped each side of my hips, moving along with the motions.
“Just like that, baby,” he moaned.
“Are you close?” I breathed.
“Only if you are,” he said, looking up into my eyes.
I wrapped my legs tightly around his waist, ignoring the slight pain from being smushed between the wooden headboard and his hard, muscular back. I took one of his hands, placing it between my legs.
He knew exactly what I wanted and began moving his thumb in circular motions. It didn’t take long before we were both climaxing at the sa ti.
After a few monts of us holding each other, I climbed off of him and laid down beside him. Elio moved his body down so that he was lying next to . We both caught our breath before turning toward one another.
“I love you,” he said.
“I love you, Elio,” I replied, feeling as if my heart was overflowing with happiness.
“Can I ask you a question?” he asked, staring into my eyes thoughtfully.
“Anything,” I assured him.
“Do you think you’ll miss living here?”
I was surprised by his question. It wasn’t what I thought he was going to ask, and it made wonder if the reason he was asking was because he was going to miss it.
Was he having second thoughts?
“I’ll miss parts of it,” I admitted. “But I’m truly looking forward to living in New York City.”
He nodded his head. “Yeah, too.”
I frowned a little. “Are you going to miss living here?”
Elio took a few monts before answering. “I will, but only because this has been our life for so long.”
“Are you having doubts?” I asked, nervous for his response.
He placed his hand on my cheek. “Of course not, Cat. I’m just as ready as you are to move on and start a new life. I think I’m just feeling nostalgic as the party gets closer.”
“I understand, Elio. It’s a big change. It takes a lot of courage to do what you’re doing,” I told him. “I’m grateful you are the type of man to choose his family over his work.”
“I would choose you and Emilia over anything,” he reassured , stroking my cheek with his thumb. “I’m sorry I waited so long to put our family first.”
“You don’t have to apologize, Elio. We are doing it now, and that’s what matters most.” I replied.
“Let’s promise each other to always put our family first, no matter what,” he said.
“I promise,” I agreed, happy to hear him say those words.
He kissed .
“Are you nervous about announcing the new Don?” I asked, curious.
He let out a small chuckle. “Not at all. I’m actually kind of excited.”
I smiled. “Yeah? I can’t wait, either. The party tomorrow night is going to be so fun.”
“Don’t lie. You’re just going for the chocolate cake,” he teased.
“I an, that is the main reason,” I joked.
A small yawn escaped . I was definitely feeling tired after all that. My eyelids had grown too heavy, and I didn’t want to keep fighting them to stay open any longer.
Elio kissed my forehead softly before telling to go to sleep. It had felt like a relief to finally close my eyes. I knew when morning ca, it would be one more day closer to being in our new city.
And with that thought alone, sleep ca easily for .
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