Levi laughed, then his face beamed bright red as he glanced down to my outfit. “You look real pretty, Ally,” he said quietly, and my heart swelled. He was such a good kid. But then my heart quickly deflated as I wished I could make him see that Axel was a good man too. A man who had done more for his brothers than they knew. A man who loved them so much, but didn’t know how to express it, because he’d never been shown how.

Faking a smile, I hugged him hard and replied, “And you’re not too shabby yourself, Lev. Tell me, you got a girl yet? The chicks at college must be clamoring after you. If I was younger, you’d have been on my radar.” I winked.

He gave me his usual shy smile and shook his head. “No, ma’am, no girls as yet.” Austin was watching Lev as his younger brother closed in on himself. I could see the racking worry in his gaze.

“Hey Ally!” Hearing Lexi enter the room, I turned and walked to kiss her on the cheek. Within minutes I had a glass of Moscato in hand and was crushed beside Cassie on the couch, Molly and Lexi sitting in chairs in front of us.

Glimpsing something flicker in the darkened hallway, my heart began to race when I caught sight of Axel, hiding in the shadows, watching me. Knowing he could see me, I smiled in his direction and I caught his lip hook into a smirk as he stepped further into the light. God, he was beautiful. As always, he was dressed all in black, his long hair falling like a curtain over his face, but those dark eyes I loved so much stayed on me, drinking me in, making me feel like the most beautiful woman in the world.

God, I wanted to go to him. I wanted my friends to welcome him into the room, talk to him because they liked him and he belonged to me. I wanted them to watch me openly walk up to him and kiss him without shame. I wanted them to accept him because we belonged to one another, no matter how difficult it was for them to understand.

But I knew it couldn’t be. My friends, his brothers, wouldn’t understand. So instead, I had to make do with furtive glimpses into the shadows, where the man who held my heart hid from the world... the world that had shunned him… the world that, at age thirty, he didn’t understand.

“Axel?”

My every muscle froze on hearing Axel’s name being called from behind me. I turned to see Austin rushing forward, a huge smile on his face.

Glancing back to the shadows, I saw Axel trying to duck his head and get away, but it was too late, Austin had already seen him.

“Axe!” Austin called, “Come have a beer with us… with me.” He belatedly corrected himself, clearly embarrassed at his slip.

Rome’s eyes narrowed as he stood beside Lev and JD. Levi cast his eyes down on seeing his big brother and Rome muttered something to himself.

Anger burned in my veins at my cousin’s change of mood. Thankfully, Austin stood before Axel, a hopeful look on his face. “I didn't think you’d come down when I invited you to join us earlier. I’m so damn glad you did, fratello.”

My heart sank when I heard how happy Austin was that Axel had shown face. Because I knew Axel would never have come down here to sit with us. He shunned any contact with people or crowds. Yet here he was, skulking in the safety of the dark just so he could watch me.

Suddenly I felt like crying. Axel should feel welcome in his own family’s house. He shouldn’t have to keep what he felt for me a secret, for fear of my friends turning their backs on me... because of the man I’d chosen to lo—

My hand flew to my chest as I realized what I’d been just about to admit. I couldn’t… I didn’t, not yet, right? It was impossible… it was…

Shit… it was true…

I glanced up to check no one had noticed my strange reaction, and nobody had… until I locked gazes with a familiar pair of golden eyes, Molly Prince’s golden eyed gaze was firmly glued on me.

Forcing my attention back to the darkened hallway, I was convinced Axel would refuse to come in. He’d make some lame excuse and bail. I knew this was his idea of hell, so I had to prevent my mouth from dropping open when, rather awkwardly, he walked fully into the light. He looked so damn sexy and brooding that, for a moment, I couldn’t catch my breath.

I did love him. I loved this tortured man before me with a breathless intensity.

Austin, clearly also in shock at his brother’s appearance, threw an arm around Axel's shoulder and led him toward a bucket of beer, handing over a bottle of Bud.

“That’s Axel?” Cassie whispered from beside me. Swerving in my place on the couch to face her, I silently nodded my head. I wanted to tell her it was my Axel, my Elpidio, the man who’d brought me to life with his deep soul and magnetic dark force, but I couldn’t.

Watching Cass assess my man, I braced for her to talk shit about him, feeling like she’d be stabbing me with a dagger in the process, but in typical Cassie fashion, she did the opposite.

“Fuck me, that guy is sin on a stick!” Cassie exclaimed with an impassioned sigh.

Molly and Lexi shook their heads at Cassie whose eyes bugged out at Axel. Her blue eyes tracked every inch of his built body, a body I now knew better than my own, his every tattoo etched in my memory.

“I mean, that long almost-black hair, the beard, the tattoos on his neck and face… the whole I’m an ex-gangster, I could kill you on the spot and I’ve served hard time thing? Whew!” Cass fanned herself with her hand, “If I wasn’t pregnant and married I’d be all up in that bad boy shit! I’d sure as hell rehabilitate him!”