Faint shouts came from the back of the house. Amara had fainted in my arms, exhaustion weighed down her delicate features in the purplish splotches of color under her sunflower blue eyes. Everything inside me fought against handing her off to someone else, but my daughter wasn't the only person we needed to save. Handing her to Marco, I pulled my gun from my holster and made my way to the back of the house. Inhuman shrieks sliced through the air just as what felt and sounded like thunder crashed down the steps. With a prayer to the heavens, I started making my way down the stairs. At the base of them, I saw a confusing pile of limbs, dark clothes, what looked like a white blanket, and a spreading pile of blood. "Get them up. Get them up," Foster barked. "Doc, get her prepped. We're out of time. I'll make sure she stays down this time."I rushed down the rest of the steps, hoped Foster wouldn't shoot me. I couldn't exactly announce my presence in a way he would understand. Ju

Seven hours later, we rushed into the hospital. Momma and Papa hot on my heels. "Domenico Amatucci," I said to the charge nurse in the Emergency Department. "Relationship?" she asked in a bored tone of voice. "Fiancée; these are his parents." I gestured to Momma and Papa. "Third floor, recovery."She was still speaking when I raced for the elevator sign I'd seen on our mad dash in. Jumping into the elevator, I slapped the OPEN button to hold the car for Momma and Papa. They rushed in behind me."You're so fast, figlia," Papa said, his breath panting. "I'm on a mission, Papa. No one's stopping me today." I counted the floors as they were highlighted over the door. As soon as the elevator car rocked to a gentle halt, I was pulling on the doors to get them to open. Following the signs that Momma translated for me, I made my way to the next nurses' station. "Domenico Amatucci. I'm his fiancée and these are his parents." I didn't give her time to delay me. "Room 325."

I blinked against the low light. Wondered if this was heaven. Since there were no hot women in scanty clothes, I was going to go with no. "Hey, Counselor," Jessa said softly. I turned my head, felt everything inside me bunch and relax. "This is even better than heaven."Her smile was drenched in tears, but she shook her head. "No. Just the VIP room in an Italian hospital." She grabbed my hand, wrapped hers around it. "You scared me, Dom."My heart pinched. She rarely called me that. I could count on one hand the number of times it had passed her lips. "I had to save Jaz. I promised you I would." My mouth felt like it was full of cotton and metal shavings. I tried to swallow. Felt my throat catch. Jessa reached to the bedside table. Grabbed up a cup. When she dipped her fingers in its depths, she came back out with an ice chip. She slid it between my lips. Sighing, she put the cup back down. "You're more important than her. Than her baby." She grabbed up my hand again

Standing at the back of the church, I sighed. It was honestly a better day than I could have hoped for. And in the end, not having a million guests to entertain was just what the doctor ordered. Momma shone in her duties as Matron and she was having a freaking blast. But it was my mate and baby girl standing at the altar that held my attention. He was dressed in a fine navy suit because the man couldn't be bothered to wear ‘boring black' if his life depended on it. He looked scrumptious. And the fact that he was holding our daughter in his arms as he waited for me at the altar in front of our friends and family?Heaven. A part of my heart broke at not having my sister in the church with me today. But I knew that she was where she needed to be right now. Hopefully, at some point in the future, we would be able to spend long days and weeks together. Right now, every single person I loved and cherished was standing in the small church waiting for me to walk down the aisle. P

Bouncing Amara in the back of the church took my mind off all the issues that awaited me outside the doors of the holy place. South Point had not only landed in Italy, but they were disrupting our local territories. The host of guards and security detail we had surrounding this building and the three block radius springing out from it had been a fucking nightmare to plan. But seeing the joy on Nico's and Jessa's faces made it all worth it. So did Eden. I looked at the small, quiet woman. Knew there was a strength inside her that few would ever guess at. She might be soft spoken and easily intimidated in personal matters, but she was ice cold and fiery hot when it came to business. And my woman did business well. She was such a dichotomy. Everything I found out about her just made me want to learn more. A mystery. One I intended to solve. "Zone three, clear," Striker called in my ear over the comm line. I tapped the mic at my wrist twice. "Zone five, clear," Roger adde