“She’ll be arriving in Rome tomorrow,” Sophie tells me.
“I’ll be waiting for her. I want to be the first person she sees in her new life.”
“She will need a friendly face. I’ll see you tomorrow,” Sophie signs off.
“Would you stop it?” Luca smiles as his hand rests on my shaking leg.
“I can’t help it.” The baby’s giving me a hard kick in the ribs as I rub my belly. “Ouch.”
“You okay?” Luca looks down at me with concern written across his face.
Since I announced I was pregnant, he has upped the protectiveness tenfold.
“He’s just kicking me to tell me to calm down. He’s just like his papa.” I give my gorgeous husband a smirk. Yes, I’m having a boy. A little prince is on his way, and his family couldn’t be happier.
Giorgio is excited as the oldest and heir, he says us having a baby first has taken a little bit of the pressure off of him.
Luca reaches out and rests his hand on my expanding belly, and instantly our baby settles down. Luca looks up at me, and all I can see is the love shining back at me. He leans over and gives me a chaste kiss.
“Seriously, you two are as bad as my sisters with their partners. Always kissing and looking loved up.” Sophie makes a gagging face.
“You made it.” Slowly, I get up off the chair and hug her.
“Look at your belly.” She gives it a quick rub. “You have grown so much since the last time I saw you.”
Sophie and I have become close friends, as has her sisters, Chloe and Grace, and their partners. They are huge advocates for women who have been trafficked as they both were. They were part of the infamous Bratva Jewels, the most elite of the Bratva’s arsenal to collect favors. They were used as bribes for high-ranking officials, royalty, ambassadors, police commissioners, pretty much anyone at the top end of town.
“I know. I feel huge.” I still have a couple more months to go, and I have no idea how my belly is going to stretch that much more.
“Grace is feeling the same, she’s about to pop, too. She moans about not being able to see her feet and blames her partner for getting her in that position.” Grace’s partner is mysterious, and we haven’t been able to meet him, but that’s a story for another day.
“They have landed,” Mac, Sophie’s partner, tells us.
My nerves kick in as I watch the plane pull up to a stop. The aerobridge stretches out and joins the plane, obstructing our view of the occupants leaving it. My heart stops for a couple of beats as I wait to see her again. I just hope she’s okay.
A couple of bodyguards exit the aerobridge first, and behind them is Ilona. Oh my, she looks so small and frail. That poor girl.
“Ilona,” I call out her name.
Those blue eyes looking dull and lifeless as she turns and looks over to where I’m standing. The moment she sees me again is when the first spark of color flickers in her eyes.
“Miss Lilly.” She rushes over to me looking like skin and bones. Her spindly arms wrap themselves around me and hold me tight. We both break down.
“You’re safe now,” I whisper into her neck. “I told you I’d rescue you again. I’m so sorry it took me so long.”
Ilona shakes her head. “I knew you would come, Miss Lilly. I never gave up hope.”
THE END
Acknowledgments
Thank you so much for reading this book.
I hope that you enjoyed the extended version of Lilly and Luca’s story, I know so many people wanted more when it was released as a novella and I hope this extended version has done their story justice. I also hope you liked past characters popping into the story too.
I want to thank you so many people, my beautiful Beta readers, my editor, cover designer, my amazing author buddies and the gang in JALow’s Block group. I appreciate all your support helping me create these stories for you all.
About the Author
JA Low lives in the Australian Outback. When she's not writing steamy scenes and admiring hot cowboy’s, she's tending to her husband and two sons, and dreaming up the next epic romance.
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Also by JA Low
International Bad Boys Set
Book 2 - The Arrogant Artist
** Was released as Love in Colour **
Louis Marchant—artist of our generation.
More like the most arrogant artist of our generation.
The man looks like Michelago has carved him with his bare hands.
Kissable soft lips.
The perfect amount of five o’clock shadow stretched across his square jaw.
Add in that delicious French accent and oh là là.
And then there’s his giant… Um, never mind, it’s still connected to him.
No amount of magnificence can take away the fact that he’s the most arrogant man in the history of France—no, the world.
He also happens to be my new boss.
Also by JA Low
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An unconventional love is tested to its limits.
Mateo is used to being in the spotlight, he craves it in everything he does . . . except when it comes to his love life - that is firmly in the closet.
Tomas shuns the spotlight, the one he was born into, he wants nothing to do with it or his high-flying family who now reject him for his
