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“I had a good teacher.” I meet Enzo’s eyes and let him see my sincerity. “You taught me that redemption isn’t earned. It’s built every day, piece by piece.”

Enzo clasps my shoulder and squeezes once, his grip familiar. “You’re going to be great at this, Marco. Even better than you were in the ring.” He gestures at the space, at the future we’re crafting. “You were always meant to be this man.”

I think about his declaration later, when the work’s done and I’m in the middle of the empty gym with Lucia by my side. The quiet around us is the calm before a much-needed storm, and expectation buzzes through me.

“You’re thinking loudly.” She leans into me, her head on my shoulder and her hair soft against my neck. “What’s going on in there?”

I wrap my arms around her and pull her close. “I never thought I’d have any of this. My name cleared. My record restored. The community center. The woman I love right next to me, helping to build something that’s ours.” I pause. “I spent years waiting for the other shoe to drop, all the while telling myself that I didn’t deserve good things. It’s different now.”

“How so?” She tilts her face up to mine, her eyes glinting in the fading light.

“Now I think…maybe I’m deserving. Maybe I always have been, and I just couldn’t see it.”

She responds with a soft, lingering kiss, and I kiss her back.

When we get back to the compound that night, we find a package on our doorstep. Lucia picks it up and turns it over in her hands. Her brow furrows. “Did you order something?”

I shake my head. “Open it.”

Inside, we find a small stuffed bear, soft and brown, wearing a tiny boxing robe with Team Santori embroidered on the back in gold thread. A note in Sophia’s familiar handwriting sits underneath.

We’re all so happy for the growing Santori family.

Lucia stares at the bear. Color drains from her face, and her hands begin to tremble. “Marco, this is definitely from Sophia.”

“I didn’t…” I read the note again, and a cold weight sinks in my chest. “She thinks you’re pregnant.”

“Yes, she does.” Lucia’s voice is strange, flat, and hollow. “Because of the symptoms I had before.” She sets the bear down on the table with exaggerated care. “I need to tell her that I’m not actually pregnant.”

She sobs out the last word, and I feel her heart racing as I hold her against my chest.

I kiss her forehead. “We’ll tell her together. When you’re ready. We’ll wait until saying the words doesn’t feel like reopening a wound.”

She nods against me, but her shoulders are tense and her breathing’s uneven. I want to fix it, to give her back that stolen hope.

That night, after she falls asleep with her hand curled under her cheek and her breathing evens out, I reach for my phone. A message from Nico glows in the darkness.

Mason Dellinger’s gone dark. Apartment empty. Phone untraceable. No one’s seen him in days. He’s a ghost.

I stare at the screen. The fact that Mason’s disappeared and currently poses no danger to Lucia should relieve me. I’m worried, though. Men like that don’t vanish completely, and while he’s out of our reach, he’ll be scheming with Bruno and waiting for us to let our guard down.

Beside me, Lucia slumbers peacefully, her face slack in the dim light. I need to tell her about Mason and all I’ve hidden.

But not tonight, when she’s safe and mine. I’ll protect her from this for as long as I can.

Chapter 33

Lucia

I’ve enjoyed two weeks of waking up next to Marco with sunlight filtering through our curtains. The weight of his arm drapes across my waist, and his breath warms my neck.

Three days after Marco’s exoneration, while I’m sleeping in my room after a solid fourteen-hour stretch in the compound’s clinic, Sophia goes into labor.

Since Marco and I have been so focused on our project that we’re usually knackered, Sophia decided we should be left to rest, so the compound physician handles the delivery.

I’m awake when Enzo comes in to tell Marco. The padrino crosses the corridor in the gray four-in-the-morning light, his face carrying that stunned, quiet wonder of a man who’s just held his child for the first time.

When Marco returns to bed, he whispers into my ear. “A girl. She’s healthy, and Sophia’s well.”