Dangerous Desires (Minnelli Mafia Series Book 1)

Reunion

Golden Oak, Michigan
Wynnie's Penthouse

"Look at my baby. Mama's baby. Pop's baby too." Wynnie lightly patted her son. Baby Zolan giggles playfully.

Still in Michigan, Wynnie had moved on to the fact that Cairo would be back. She hoped soon but her son kept her going most days.

Now done with her degree after helping Flint and Detroit get clean water, Wynnie was in between jobs.

"Why you squealing like that? Because the doorbell rang? Huh?" She giggled. Zolan started moving his legs like he could walk. "Okay let me open this door. Just for you."

Zolan squealing and drooling. Wynnie opens the door.

"Who is our visitor today? Nana? Char Char? Zilly?"

She turns her face from Zolan and almost dropped her son. "Cairo." She couldn't believe it. Wynnie is all choked up.

"I'm home baby. I'm home." Cairo pulls his little family to him.

She closes the door with Zolan still in her arms. Wynnie kisses all over him, holding his face with her free hand. Her lip trembles against his. "I missed you so much." Her voice cracks.

"I missed you too." he wipes her tears. Watching Cairo watch her. A wave of suppressed anger came over her. But she swallows it again. That can wait for later.

Wynnie reluctantly hands him Zolan and went in the kitchen. "His name is Zolan Cairo Minnelli. Are you hungry?"

"Yeah. I am." He sits at the island with Zolan planted in his lap. This awkwardness is not what Wynnie had in mind when she kept wishing Cairo would come home. She sighs sadly and fixes him a light plate. "I know you have questions."

Wynnie nods, taking Zolan from him. The little boy whimpered lightly before latching to his mother. "I know you were an assassin. What I want to know is why? And for how long?"

"I was an assassin. Because my brothers were kingpins at one point in time and I was like the Protector. I knew they could do it on their own but I needed a place in the cartel too." Cairo admits. Wynnie urges him to keep going. "I was doing it to protect my family but when I died, I wasn't doing it for family but for my own adrenaline rush."

"Were you an assassin when we were first together?" Wynnie doesn't even know if she wants to know the answer.

"Yes." His grey eyes, like his son's never wavered from hers. Slight wind was knocked out of Wednesday. "The whole time." He admits.

"Wow." She is speechless. "How naïve am I?" her rhetorical question hangs in the balance. "So when you ended up in my dorm, you were coming from a mission? And when I met you too..."

He nods.

"Why did you keep this from me, Cai?"

"Because I didn't...I didn't." he struggles. "I-I can't answer that Wynnie. I was just so in love with you and our time together. It was like two different worlds, but I needed that motivation to keep coming back."

"Why didn't you stop when shit started getting serious? Once you knew I was pregnant?" her nose flared in anger.

"At this point, I was fearful that they'd come after you too like they were coming after Nia in California. That's why I took the last mission. They as in the pirates. That was the reason I took the mission, but I wasn't going about it safely. I was reckless. I broke our promise. And as long as I was gone it fucked with me."

"But that's the old me. I'm looking into different avenues now. And I want my family...with you. You carrying Zolan was what made me go a little harder. But I was also looking into giving it up. I kept reiterating that the last mission was the last mission."

"Cairo, I need time. A moment or so to myself. How do I know you're not just saying that because it sounds good? You're here now but what about later in life? Or you feel an urge to go? What am I supposed to do? This is all overwhelming." Wynnie expresses her true thoughts. "Somewhere in my mind, I wanted this to be fake...the assassin part. But Adonis had warned me about certain parts of you. But I was already pregnant." She finally lets the tears about that drop.

"That part of me is done. Things I've seen and had to do have changed me. For the better."

"Where are you coming from?" her eyes shift back toward his. Zolan is done suckling and started to fall asleep. She pats his back so he'd burp. "I'm so happy you're home. God knows I am but damn it, Cai!"

"A woman by the name of TaMika brought me back to life with help of a friend named Rielle. They insisted that I stay until I completely healed." Cairo speaks fondly of the little witches. "They helped me, and it was so therapeutic. I needed to stay in order to be here for you, and my son."

Wynnie wipes her tears as she gets Zolan ready for bed. "Have you heard from your mother? Seen the rest of the family?"

"Yes. I saved you for last." He smiles.

Hours earlier, Cairo stopped by his parents' mansion just in time for their brunch. Their maid answered the door and shrieked. Cairo put his finger up to his lips to shush her. The older woman nodded excitedly. She walked back to the kitchen to finish the French toast. Missy and Antonio, Charlotte and Zillah, Amiri and Zipporah were there. His brothers had fully integrated themselves with their soon to be wives.

"Who was at the door?" Antonio slides on a stool at the island. Missy and Zippy look up at her from the stove. They liked cooking with their maids.

"I don't know..." she's turning red.

"You answered the door for a stranger?" Zillah gasps.

"No I did not."

"Well who?"

"You should see for yourself." She nods at the door behind them. Gasps, shrieks and "BOY!" were instantly yelled.

Missy pushes Antonio out the way to hug her boy. Her baby. Her face wet with tears. "Don't you ever scare us like that again! You hear me!" she hugs him tight. The rest of the family hugs him one at a time.

Over breakfast, they asked many questions. But one was most important to Antonio. "Does Wynnie know you're here?"

"I'm saving her for last. So I can spend time with her." He admits. Cairo spends the rest of the day with his parents until he was sure Wynnie was retiring for the night. He wanted this to be extra special.

"I want us to be a family again but I know you need time." He moves her hair out of her face. He watched her get Zolan in bed and lay in her own bed.

"You need to learn Zo as well as I do...and yes I need time. I want to visit my sister and Nana."

"We can go together...maybe spend time at the cabin?" Cairo suggests.

"Okay...we can do that." Wednesday agrees. Her heart was full but she just couldn't jump back in relationship mode just yet.