Their salvation.

Ch. 9- "Forgetting & Remembering."

Max's POV:

I just shut down for the rest of that day. I made sure that Cameron and the kids couldn't tell, but I'm sure they knew. Cameron kept giving me sympathetic looks and the kids slept in bed with me that night. Cuddled right up to me.

I can't believe one human, that has no relation to me could affect me this much. This is why I was afraid. I got too quickly attached. All it took was a week. ONE week. He's all I can think about, and I hate it. Absolutely hate it. Because I can never have him. He probably doesn't even want me the way I would want him. Andrè doesn't seem like the type to want the wife, the kids, the white picket fence. I see him wanting power, and sex. Nothing more and nothing less. So these silly little thoughts are a waste, it's only hurting me more which in return is hurting my family more.

I just need to forget Andrè Stone ever existed.

Andrè's POV:

She will be mine. It's as simple as that.

Max & I will end up growing old together. She's my first and last everything. She's it. I now know what my papà feels when he talks about my mamma. The sparks. The knowing. And for right now, the waiting.

Yesterday, when she turned ice cold in a second in response to me. I just wanted to hold her, reassure her. I've never seen her do that before. She's always had this glow on her face. The only woman I've ever seen be able to do that besides my mother is my sister. It's extremely important for a family of our kind, and very impressive that someone not in the family can do it.

All of that being said, I want her even more than I did before. I didn't even know that was possible. I don't want her to feel like I'm forcing her to be with me, I want her to want me. I know she feels the same way I do about her. I can see it. Her body tells on her, I see how her eyes light up but I can also see the battle she has in them as well because of me. I know the battle isn't just because she doesn't want to cave into me, she has more to think about than herself.

I already knew she had kids in her care. I've known her far longer than she thinks as well. It sounds stalker-ish but I don't care. I can still remember the day her & I met for the first time. It was a few years ago at my Zia è Zio's restaurant, she radiated light wherever she walked but in her eyes, in her soul, you could see how exhausted she was.

She was a fighter. I watched her handle a disrespectful customer and scare the daylights out of the man all without breaking her happy- smile. It was interesting, and the first time, I felt my heart pump harder than a day of training. You could feel her power from more than a mile away. I knew in that moment she had be mine, and she'd be the best mafia queen next to my mother. Of course.

Two years later I can finally take the chance & get what I need; her. I'll make Max and our family the happiest. I can promise that.

Now it's time to put my plan into action to win my woman over.

"Andrè, let's go! I'm hungry!!"

"I'm coming mamma!"