Maddox led me onto the narrow balcony that surrounded the entire bedroom. The wind was fresh, raising goose bumps all over my body. I shivered against Maddox.
“Back inside?” he murmured, trailing warm lips over my pulse point.
“No,” I whispered, then sighed when he reached a particularly sensitive point above my collarbone. “You’ll keep me warm.”
“I’ll do more than that,” he growled into my ear.
I turned.
Our lips met for a gentle kiss that quickly turned heated. This time I took the incentive and got down on my knees before Maddox.
“I still remember you saying, Vitiellos don’t kneel.”
I smiled coyly. “I make an exemption to suck my husband’s cock.” My tongue darted out, flicking his piercing playfully. Maddox looked ready to explode as he watched me pleasure him.
“Fuck,” he rumbled. Soon he pulled me back up to him and made me turn around, making love to me while he wrapped his arms around me from behind, overlooking the ocean.
Two hearts beat in my chest. One of them would always long for my bike and the biker lifestyle, but the other had found a place among the people I’d once considered the enemy. Not everyone had welcomed me into their rows, some would always see me as a problem. But I didn’t care. I had a group of men I trusted and a family who really was a family, and what was the most important: I had a wonderful wife.
Marcella was the woman I’d given up everything for that I had considered important, only to get so much more in return.
And today, today I’d do something I’d never considered an option. I was swearing loyalty to a man I’d tried to kill several times and who had tried to kill me just as often. I was becoming an official part of the Famiglia, instead of lurking in the shadows.
Marcella smiled at me, standing tall and proud, looking like the queen that she was. I did this for her but even more than that, I did it for our son growing in her belly. My eyes settled on her bump.
Only two more months before we’d be parents, before I’d be a father and do better than my old man and Earl had. Two months. I wasn’t scared shitless like I’d thought I would be about becoming a father, about the weight of the responsibility. I was looking forward to meeting our son, about proving that the father figures of my childhood didn’t determine what kind of father I would be.
That Marcella would be a fantastic mother was out of the question, not only because she was like Aria in many regards, but also because she’d proven her caring side around Santana and every dog that followed.
“Are you ready to take your oath, Maddox Vitiello.”
As always, my body tensed briefly when I heard my name. I wasn’t sure if it would sink in any time soon. I’d been so insistent about keeping my name for a long time but once Marcella became pregnant, I knew I wanted to change my name. For our son, who had to be a Vitiello to be accepted.
If he ever wanted to become Capo of the Famiglia, he couldn’t be a White. And if I was being honest, I didn’t want to continue the line of Whites. Neither my father nor Earl had been men whose name I wanted to have carried on and remembered. Luca and I had had our differences, and we still argued on occasion, but I admired his family sense and his devotion to the people he cared about.
I thrived to be the same way with our family.
I stepped up to the man who’d soon be my Capo. “I am.”
My voice was firm, no hint of a doubt, and I realized it reflected my true feelings.
“Born in Blood,
Sworn in Blood,
I enter alive,
and I leave dead.”
I cut my palm, presenting the wound to the gathered crowd. The tattooist dipped the tattoo needle into the blood before he touched the needle to my chest. The oath couldn’t be placed over my heart as was tradition because I had other covers there. When the needle pierced my skin, my eyes found Marcella once more as she cradled her belly. She smiled in the dignified way she had in public. I’d learned to see past this official mask and see the emotions hiding beneath.
Marcella’s eyes brimmed with love.
Once the tattoo was done, I put my shirt back on and headed to her. She touched the skin over my heart and kissed me briefly, her eyes becoming softer.
We didn’t have time to talk as other Made Men were already crowding in to congratulate me and welcome me in the Famiglia. I could see that this small gesture changed a lot in many of their eyes.
Overcoming the enmity from the past hadn’t happened in an instant, not even in months or a few years. I had been with Marcella for almost a decade and now finally seemed to have fully arrived in the Famiglia.
Later, Marcella and I sat on our comfy couch in front of our fireplace in the townhouse right beside her parents’ mansion, both in sweatpants and hoodies, snuggled against each other.
Marcella lifted her head off my shoulder. “I never told you how much it means to me that you sacrificed so much for me over the years.” I raised my eyebrows and she elaborated. “Your biker family and lifestyle, your name and now you even became part of the Famiglia.”
I ran my nose along her throat, drawing in her scent. “It’s not a sacrifice if you are gifted with something in return, especially if said gift is worth so much more than what you had to begin with.” I drew back to look into Marcella’s beautiful eyes. “I chose you and I’d do it again. And I’m not the only one who had to sacrifice something. You risked a lot by marrying a dirty biker, by standing up to your family and your people for me.”
“I’d do it again. And you’re not that dirty.” Her lips twitched. “Except for your mouth.”
I chuckled, then turned serious again. “I love that you can be soft and caring, but that you can also be tough and strong if necessary. And what I love the most is that I’m one of the very few who get to see your mushy, emotional side.”
Marcella rolled her eyes, but she did it with a small, pleased smile. “And I love that you think my imperfections make me perfect.” Her voice became very gentle. “I love that you showed me that the infinite love my parents share isn’t an unattainable dream.”
The End