“Please Don’t Hurt My Baby,” The Curvy Single Mom Begged—Then The Mafia Don Dropped To His Knees

On the sprawling stone patio of the Moretti compound, a little boy with a head of thick, curly black hair was trying his absolute best to chase a golden retriever across the grass, stumbling on chubby legs and laughing with a sound that could melt glaciers.

Nora sat in a cushioned lounger, wearing a flowing emerald summer dress that hugged her curves in all the right places, a glass of iced lemonade resting on the table beside her.

She looked radiant. The exhaustion of her old life was gone, replaced by a deep, glowing contentment that came from being truly cherished.

Footsteps approached from behind.

Strong, warm hands rested on her shoulders, massaging the tight muscles of her neck with practiced ease.

“He’s going to run us out of house and home,” Gabriel murmured, pressing a soft kiss to the side of her neck. He wore a crisp linen shirt with the sleeves rolled up, looking every bit the powerful syndicate boss—except for the fact that he was currently wearing a handmade beaded bracelet Leo had forced onto his wrist that morning.

Nora leaned back against his chest, smiling as she covered his hands with hers.

“He’s just like his father,” she teased softly.

Gabriel chuckled, a rich, deep sound that only she ever got to hear. “God help me, if he grows up to be half as stubborn as his mother, I’ll need to double the security detail.”

“Speaking of security,” Nora turned her head, looking up at him with a raised eyebrow. “Dante mentioned something about a package arriving from Indiana this morning.”

Gabriel’s expression hardened just a fraction.

“Tommy?”

“He tried to sell some fake real estate deeds under an alias,” Gabriel said smoothly, pouring himself a glass of water. “The local authorities picked him up yesterday. He’s currently sitting in a county jail with a very long sentence ahead of him and a very angry group of creditors waiting for his release.”

Nora fell silent for a moment. She looked out across the lawn toward Leo, who had successfully tackled the golden retriever and was now burying his face in its fur.

There was a time when hearing Tommy’s name would have sent a spike of panic through her chest. Now, it felt like reading a bad chapter in a book she had finished reading months ago.

“Do you want me to send a message?” Gabriel asked quietly, reading her expression with the terrifying accuracy he always had. “Make sure he stays comfortable where he is?”

Nora reached up, taking Gabriel’s hand and uncurling his fingers until her palm rested flat against his. She intertwined her fingers with his—strong, scarred, and entirely devoted to her.

“No,” she said, her voice steady and clear. “Tommy doesn't exist anymore. He was just a ghost in a bad apartment.”

Gabriel looked down at her, his gray eyes softening with an intensity that took her breath away. He turned her hand over and pressed a warm, lingering kiss into her palm.

“A ghost,” Gabriel agreed softly. “And we don’t look back.”

From across the lawn, Leo spotted them, let out a joyful shriek, and began toddle-running toward the patio on his wobbly legs, waving a plastic shovel in the air.

“Mama! Dada!” the little boy shouted, his voice ringing out across the sunlit estate.

Dada.

Gabriel froze for a fraction of a second, the word hanging in the warm spring air like a blessing he had never expected to receive in this lifetime.

Nora looked up at him, a radiant smile breaking across her face, her eyes shining with unshed tears of pure happiness.

Gabriel smiled back—a genuine, rare, devastating smile that transformed the dangerous mafia don into the man who had knelt on a filthy kitchen floor just to make sure his world was safe.

He scooped Nora up from the lounger with effortless strength, pulling her flush against his chest just as little Leo reached the patio steps, wrapping his sticky arms around Gabriel’s expensive leather shoes.

Nora laughed, throwing her arms around Gabriel’s neck as he kissed her deeply in the golden afternoon sun.