Chapter 14 - The Unbreakable Pact Between Two Enemies Bound by Blood, Secrets, and a Child
The warmth of Sloan’s palm against her stomach felt both terrifying and grounding.
Delphine didn’t pull away.
She sat in the dim light of the master suite, her heart hammering against her ribs, watching the harsh, weathered face of the man who ruled the city soften with an expression she had never witnessed in all the years they had been married.
“I’m sorry,” Sloan whispered, the words sounding foreign and agonizing on his tongue—a confession from a man who never apologized to anyone.
Delphine blinked, her tears pausing.
“What did you just say?”
“I said I’m sorry,” Sloan repeated, opening his dark, steel-gray eyes to look straight into hers.
“For the cage I built. For the world I dragged you into. For making you feel like your only option to protect our child was to run away in the middle of the night.”
Delphine swallowed hard, the anger slowly draining out of her, leaving only a profound, exhausted vulnerability.
“I didn’t want to run, Sloan,” she confessed softly, her voice breaking.
“I loved you. But loving you felt like standing in the middle of a hurricane and praying the lightning wouldn't strike.”
Sloan slid closer on the mattress, wrapping his arms gently around her shoulders and pulling her against his broad, solid chest.
He buried his face in the soft waves of her auburn hair, breathing in her scent as if he had been starving for it for three years.
“The hurricane is over, Delphine,” Sloan murmured against her hair, his voice fierce with absolute conviction.
“I spent three years looking for a ghost. Now that you’re back—now that you’re carrying my child—nothing in this city, human or otherwise, will ever touch you again. I will burn every syndicate, dismantle every rival family, and turn this entire coast into a fortress if that's what it takes to keep you safe.”
“I don’t want a fortress, Sloan,” Delphine whispered against his chest.
“I want a home.”
“Then we’ll build one,” Sloan promised, his hand sliding down to rest protectively over her stomach.
“Away from the central docks. Away from the bloodshed. But you stay with me. Both of you.”
Delphine closed her eyes, letting out a long, shuddering breath.
She knew the Marchetti underworld would never truly sleep.
She knew enemies would still lurk in the shadows, waiting for a sign of weakness.
But as she felt the steady, powerful beat of Sloan’s heart beneath her cheek and the reassuring warmth of his hand protecting their unborn child, she knew something else, too.
The invisible waitress who had hidden in plain sight for three years was gone.
May you like
She was Delphine Marchetti.
And the war for her family had only just begun.
