Noemi ripped another package open and drew out the small plastic stick. The third one in less than a half hour. This couldn’t be happening—not now, not today of all days. She did the test again, lining it up on the sink with the last two and waited.
The telltale second blue line showed up again. “Oh, no, no, no…”
Pregnant. How the fuck had this happened? She gave a hollow laugh. Really, Doc? You need a biology lesson? She was on birth control, yes, but she knew as well as anyone it didn’t always work and now… now she was pregnant with Rafael Genova’s child.
And she’d found out the day, the very day her beloved nephew was being buried. Oh God…
“Noe? You done in there? I’m about to pee myself.”
Noemi swept the pregnancy tests and the packaging into her purse and zipped it, flushing the toilet. “Sorry, boo. Daydreaming.”
Leo, who looked more together than Noemi had expected, smiled at her as she went to the sink to wash her hands. “Same old Noe.”
“Always.” Noemi waited until Leo had used the bathroom and followed her sister out, her mind whirling. Forget it for today. One day will make no difference. Today is just about Jack.
“Noe, I wanted to say before we go down, that you chose the funeral home perfectly. Jack looks like he’s sleeping. Thank you… thank you.”
Noemi’s eyes filled with tears, and she hugged her sister tightly. “He is so beautiful, Leo. And you were the best mom. He was so happy all his life, and that was because of you.”
Leonora’s tears were flowing freely. “I always wondered if I did him a disservice by not keeping his father in his life.”
“It was just the opposite. Although Paul was a good man, he wasn’t a father. Jack didn’t need anyone else but you.”
“And you and Mom and Dad. I could never have done it without you.” Leonora sighed. “Paul’s here, you know. He’s broken up.” She gave a sob.
Noemi wiped her tears. “Come on, before we both disintegrate into puddles.”
As they walked into the chapel, it was full of their friends and family. Paul, Jack’s biological father, was leaning over his son’s open casket, weeping inconsolably. Noemi couldn’t help but think—where were you in the last six years? But she knew she was being harsh. Leo and Paul had parted amicably before Jack was even born, and Jack had never known that Paul, who he’d only met on a few occasions, was even his father.
At the back of the church, Noemi saw Rafa and Bepi, quietly taking their seats, and she smiled at them. Bepi was adorable in his little suit, and Rafa smiled back at her, raising his eyebrows, asking her silently if she was okay. Noemi nodded and touched her chest over her heart. Rafa did the same. The simple gesture made her feel stronger.
The funeral went off slowly and beautifully, and as they laid Jack to rest, Leo stayed strong. “Goodbye, beautiful boy. You will always be with me.”
They held the wake at their parent’s home. Leo thanked all the guests personally, even Rafa. She stroked Bepi’s chubby little cheek. “He’s adorable, Rafa.”
Rafa gripped her hand. “You need anything—anything—please just ask.”
“Thank you.” Leo nodded at him and moved away, but then turned and came back. “All I want is… look after my sister. Do that and I’ll be happy.”
“I promise with all my heart,” Rafa said, and Leo nodded and half-smiled.
“I believe you mean that. Thank you, Rafael. See you again, Bepi.”
Bepi reached out his little hand and put his fingers on her face. Noemi watched as a million emotions flooded her sister’s face before she nodded and walked away. Noemi slipped her hand into Rafa’s. “Let’s go find somewhere to talk.”
Bepi was commandeered by Marian, who, struggling with her grandson’s loss, wanted to hug the little boy so badly it hurt. Bepi, always sensitive to emotions around him, threw his arms around her neck and snuggled in tight.
“He’s a cute kid.”
Noemi turned to see Paul behind her. “Paul…”
Paul shook his head. “I know. Me too. I just wish… I wish I had been a better man. A father. But it’s too late now.” The depth of sorrow in his eyes was searing.
Noemi had to look away, and she excused herself, pushing her way through the guests and outside with Rafa following her.
They sat down on the porch, and Rafa wrapped his arms around her, pressing his lips to her temple. “I love you, Noemi Castor,” he murmured. “I know it’s crazy fast, and I know we’re declaring this at a time of heightened emotion, but I’m in love with you.”
“As I am in love with you, Rafa. So much. I just wish it wasn’t so bathed in loss: yours, mine, ours.”
“We will get through this, I swear. We’ve been tested, sure, but I know we belong together.”
Noemi smiled at him and kissed his mouth. “I believe we do.” She hesitated. The words seemed to want to come out—I’m pregnant, I’m pregnant—but she couldn’t do it. Not today. Not here.
Leo made Noemi go home with Rafa. “You need some looking after, and Mom and Dad are fussing around me. I need some time alone too. Go, be with him.”
“You approve of him now?”
Leo half smiled. “Let’s just say I’m touched he came to the funeral. And that kid is adorable.”
She even hugged Rafa before they left and gave him a look. “Remember what I said.”
“I promise.”
In the car, Noemi asked him what Leonora had meant. Rafa grinned over at her. “She told me to look after you.”
Noemi chuckled. “Ah, Leo. Feminism passed you by, didn’t it?”
“Hey now, I need looking after too. Isn’t that what feminism is? Equality?” Rafa stuck his tongue in his cheek, and Noemi giggled. It felt so good to laugh. Noemi looked around at Bepi, fast asleep in his child’s seat.
“He looks so adorable in that little suit. Did you get it off the rack or did you have it tailored for him in Italy?” She teased Rafa but when he looked sheepish, she gasped.
“Seriously? Your four-year-old son has his suits tailored in Italy?”
Rafa chuckled. “Now you sound like Tomi. But yeah, he needs a suit so every birthday, he gets measured, and I have one made. It’s kind of like a family tradition. My dad used to do it for Zani and me when we were growing up. My mom still has every one of them in her ‘archive’. Yes, she has an ‘archive’ of my baby clothes.”
Noemi was giggling. “Oh, how the rich live. When I was growing up the only tradition I knew was fighting over the turkey wishbone on Thanksgiving.”
Rafa smiled at her. “You’ve never talked about your upbringing. Do you remember your birth parents?”
“Not at all. I was still a baby when the Castors adopted me, so I’ve never known any other life or any other family. I have no need or drive to find my birth family. I was so lucky. All I know is my father was African-American and my mom was Creole from New Orleans. Even growing up mixed race in a white family—nothing seemed out of place. I was with the people I was supposed to be with.”
“And you were close with Leo?”
Noemi smiled. “I am. As soon as I was able to communicate, we’ve been best friends. We share the same sense of mischief. I used to do this thing in the schoolyard while we were playing: I’d holler like a banshee and where ever she was, she’d banshee me back. Best friends. Since then we’ve fought and played, and I could not imagine being closer to someone who actually shared my DNA.”
Rafa reached over and took her hand. “That’s a hell of a story. I love it. I often wondered about what it would be like to have a sister instead of a brother.”
“Were you and Zani close?”
He shook his head. “Not really. Too different.”
Back at Rafa’s Lake Washington mansion, Zani was nowhere to be found. Rafa put a sleeping Bepi to bed, then he and Noemi went to his bedroom. They undressed and got into his bed. Rafa stroked her hair back from her face. “Are you tired, baby?”
She shook her head, her gaze meeting his, and they kissed, their lips soft at first, but as the tension built, rougher, hungrier. Noemi needed him tonight, needed to make love to blank out the sadness of the day, and as he gently moved her onto her back, she tangled her fingers in his hair, pulling his lips to hers. “Don’t wait… don’t wait.”
She wrapped her legs around him and he slid into her. Noemi rocked her hips up to meet him, never taking her eyes from his gaze, pouring all her emotion into making love to this wonderful man.
Rafael braced his arms either side of her head and began to thrust hard, both of them breathing hard. “I love the way your body moves when we fuck,” he said, his voice gruff with desire, and she smiled, wriggling beneath him, making her breasts jiggle. Rafa grinned.
“God, you’re beautiful,” he said, kissing her hard enough that they both tasted blood. It only made their lovemaking more intense as they clawed at each other, leaving marks on each other’s skin.
“Cum on my belly,” Noemi gasped as he withdrew, shooting thick, creamy semen onto her skin as he came, groaning her name. Noemi reached her own peak, arching her back up as he gathered her to him, watching her as she shivered and moaned with pleasure.
“Christ, Noe…” His lips were trailing down her body, his hand massaging his cum into her skin. His mouth found her nipples as Noemi caught her breath, panting hard as she came down from the high.
Rafa didn’t let her rest, though; in minutes, he was inside her again, pushing her knees to her chest, slamming his hips against her as his thick, long, rock-hard cock plunged relentlessly inside her. Noemi came again and again until finally, they both collapsed on the bed, panting hard, laughing.
“God, I needed that… is it me or does it just keep getting better... and better…” She rolled over to kiss him, and he cupped her face in his hands.
“It isn’t just you… that was unbelievable.”
Noemi grinned at him. “Your cock is the stuff of legend.”
Rafa laughed. “You mean Derek?”
“No, you did not name your cock Derek.” Noemi burst into giggles and slid her hand down to stroke ‘Derek.’ “He’s at least a Thor. Or a Loki. No, I know, he’s Mjolnir.”
Rafa shook his head. “I wish I knew what the hell you were talking about, young person.”
“Ha, don’t try to convince me you’re not a comics geek, Genova.”
Rafa grinned. “You got me. So, by the way you’re wielding ‘Mjolnir’, I’m assuming you, Dr. Castor, are now claiming to be Thor?”
Noemi, chuckling, straddled him and drew the tip of his cock up and down her damp sex. “I don’t think Thor ever did this with his hammer.” She lowered herself onto him, taking him in deep, and they made love again. Rafa’s hands were rough on her body, and she urged him to be firm with her, grabbing her wrists hard, digging his fingers into the soft flesh of her hips.
“You keep encouraging me like that,” Rafa breathed hard, desire igniting in his eyes, “and we’re going to have to do some experimentation.”
Noemi felt her cunt flood with desire at his words, and he chuckled. “Oh, you like that idea? Want me to tie you up, Princess?”
She nodded and Rafa smiled. “Maybe we should get some leather straps, some other toys…”
Noemi moaned, riding him harder as he described what he’d like to do to her in graphic detail.
Afterwards, she lay down beside him, and he kissed her forehead. “We can do it all, baby. All of it. Whatever, whenever. I want to experience everything with you.”
So involved were they in their lovemaking, they didn’t notice Zani in the shadows watching them from the doorway. His eyes slid over Noemi’s lush body, her café-au-lait skin covered in a fine dewy glow, her breasts and belly undulating as she breathed hard.
Desire twisted in his gut, and he slid silently from the room. He could see his brother was head over heels for the young doctor, and although he was happy for Rafa, he knew that his own actions would soon have terrible consequences for all of them.
Zani knew he shouldn’t have returned from Europe; he should have stayed and faced the consequences of his behavior. No doubt if he had, he’d be dead.
But at least you won’t have dragged Rafa, Bepi, your parents and that beautiful girl into your twisted mess of a life…
It was too late now. He’d made them all targets. Zani knew what his enemies would do to them—back in Europe, his own girlfriend, Sophia, had paid the price. He’d found her beaten and sobbing in their apartment upon returning from a club. Her attackers had left her a message to give Zani: Next time, she dies.
He used the last of his trust fund to make sure Sophie had safe haven in France; it was probably the only good thing he’d ever done in his wasteful life.
But now he was about to bring it all down on his family. His enemies had found him. He knew that because of one solitary text message: a photo sent to him.
Rafa and Noemi kissing in Rafa’s car. So in love. The threat was clear.
Zani walked through the silent mansion. He could give himself up to his enemies, but it wouldn’t do any good. They wanted revenge, and they would keep him alive just to watch his family die.
There was no hope. By his own actions, Zani had condemned the people he loved to death, and he knew that before they died, their lives would be made pure hell… and there was nothing he could do about it.