Page 121 of The Savage

Then someone – Cesare – mentions Nightowl.

The table groans again.

‘They’re a fucking pain in my ass,’ Rafa snarls.

‘Mine too,’ Cesare adds. ‘And yet they somehow always know everything before we do.’

Sofiya lifts her brows. ‘They’ve helped us more than hurt us.’

‘Because it amused them,’ Rafa spits. ‘But the motherfucker is running out of lives. And dark holes to hide in.’ There’s a relish to the statement that tells me my brother is on the hunt. As always.

Good. I’d love a word or ten with Nightowl.

But… as I let my gaze drift over Giada’s breathtakingly perfect features, I can’t help but acknowledge Sofiya’s words too. The infuriating asshole has helped us more than hurt us.

The door opens then and an older woman walks in, carrying a bundle I recognise instantly.

Nico.

Maddie, a beatific smile breaking over her face, rises instantly to take the baby.

The kid’s got Cesare’s scowl and Maddie’s eyes, and every time I see him I’m reminded that the Salvatores have somehow survived every war thrown at them.

‘We didn’t bring him earlier,’ Maddie says softly, walking back to the dining table. ‘Not until we knew the situation here was… manageable.’ Her gaze flicks to me, then to Giada. ‘But I thought it was time.’

Cesare is up so fast his chair scrapes, every muscle humming with territorial warning. Maddie ignores him, because she’s Maddie and the only one alive who can. She walks straight to Giada.

My chest tightens.

Giada looks like she’s been struck by sunlight – wide-eyed, breath caught, hands lifting on instinct before she can think to protest.

Maddie places Nico into her arms.

And fuck me gently with a crucifix, the sight almost levels me.

Giada holds him like she was born knowing how, careful, reverent, stunned. That soft gasp she makes? It hits somewhere deep and possessive in me.

Nico curls his tiny fist around her finger and Giada’s whole face goes soft around the edges, like something old in her recognises something older in him. ‘Ciao, beddu carusu… tu sì un picciriddu perfettu.’

‘Sì, he’s pure perfection. Your sister did good,’ Cesare intones proudly, then swoops in the second Nico lets out a tiny squeak. He plucks his kid from Giada with all the subtlety of a starving wolf grabbing back his kill.

Giada blinks, startled. Hurt for half a breath.

Maddie pats Cesare’s chest lightly. ‘Don’t mind him,’ she says with a grin, smoothing Nico’s curls. ‘He hardly lets anyone hold him. You got two whole minutes. That’s practically a miracle.’

Giada blushes.

Cesare softens, but only by half a millimetre, so it barely counts.

Maddie lets father and son bond for five minutes, then she reclaims her baby, shifting Nico to her shoulder.

I startle when I look up and see Sofiya next to me.

She watches me with a dark, fixed gaze that sends tingles up my spine before, reaching out, she touches Giada’s shoulder with a smile.

‘I’m off to put this one down for the night. Goodnight,’ Maddie says.

Dante stands next, leans in, and presses a kiss to Giada’s cheek. ‘Welcome to the family circus,’ he murmurs.