Chapter 268 ONLY LIVING.

Chapter 268 ONLY LIVING.
\~~~RAINA.

The silence lasted for exactly three seconds, and then everything exploded.

"No way!" Alessia said again, and was the first to move, shooting out of her chair so fast that Viktor immediately stood up too. 

"Oh my God!" Her hands flew to her mouth again, then to her chest, then back to her mouth. 

Somehow, she still wasn't done reacting. "No way," she repeated. "Absolutely no way."

I couldn't help laughing, mostly because she looked exactly how I imagined she must have looked when she found out about her own pregnancy, completely overwhelmed, completely emotional, and one hundred percent incapable of calming down.

Viktor looked between Luciano and me, then at Alessia, then back at us. "Wait." He pointed. "You're serious?"

Luciano looked at him. "We would not joke about that."

Viktor immediately dropped his hand. "Right." A beat passed, and then his eyes widened. "Oh." Another beat. Then… "Oh!"

I burst out laughing while Alessia slapped his shoulder. "Stop saying oh!"

"I'm trying to process!"

"Process faster!"

"We're having a moment!"

Luciano rubbed a hand down his face. "They are unbelievable."

"You love us," Alessia said.

"I am only tolerating you."

"You love us."

"I tolerate you."

"You would do anything for me."

"That doesn't prove anything."

"It proves everything."

Viktor nodded. "She's right."

Luciano groaned, and I laughed so hard I almost doubled over. Immediately, his hand landed on my back. "Careful."

That only made Viktor point dramatically. "There!"

"There what?" Luciano asked.

"That."

"What?"

"The husband thing."

Luciano narrowed his eyes. "The husband thing?"

"You've become ridiculous."

"I've always been ridiculous."

"No." Viktor shook his head. "You used to threaten people."

"I still do."

"Now you will threaten people more while asking if your wife drank enough water."

Alessia started laughing so hard she nearly snorted. I covered my mouth while Luciano looked offended. Again. 

Honestly, I was beginning to think that was his default expression around family.

"I don't sound like that."

"You absolutely sound like that."

"I do not."

"You do."

"I don't."

Alessia raised a finger. "Actually..." Everybody looked at her, and she smiled sweetly. "You have asked Raina if she'd had enough water six times just during this meal."

Silence fell, and Luciano blinked before shrugging. "Hydration is important."

The four of us immediately burst out laughing. Even Luciano smiled, a little, but enough.

The rest of the afternoon passed in a blur of food, laughter, and conversation. At some point, Viktor declared himself the future favorite uncle, and at another point, Alessia informed him that wasn't how it worked. Then they spent fifteen minutes arguing over it while Luciano and I watched the entire thing without getting involved, because some battles weren't worth fighting.

The sun slowly began sinking lower, turning the sky shades of orange and gold, and somehow everything felt peaceful and it was the kind of peaceful I used to think only existed in movies. 

For a while, Alessia and I sat together while the men argued about something completely unimportant again.

She rested a hand over her stomach, then looked at me, still smiling. "I can't believe it."

I smiled back. "Me neither."

"You know what is crazy?"

"What?"

"Our babies are going to grow up together."

My heart immediately melted because I hadn't actually thought about it that way, not fully, not yet. But now that she said it, I could see it. The birthdays, family dinners, holidays, tiny feet running through hallways, laughter, memories, and a future. A real future. Not just survival, and not just getting through another day. A future.

I glanced toward Luciano. He was listening to Viktor talk, or pretending to, but his attention kept drifting back toward me every few seconds checking, watching, and making sure I was okay. 

The sight made my chest tighten because not that long ago, I genuinely believed I'd never have any of this. Not him, not this family, not this life, and definitely not this baby. Yet here I was, somehow having all of it.

Dinner happened shortly after sunset. The beach had been lit with soft lights, music played quietly in the background, and the ocean moved calmly beside us. Everything felt warm, comfortable, and safe.

At one point, Viktor raised his glass, and immediately everybody looked at him.

"Oh no," Alessia muttered.

"I have a speech."

Luciano sighed. "Of course you do."

"How the hell has he changed so much?” I whispered to Alessia.

“Marriage changes people, sis, you of all people should know that.”

I nodded my head.

Viktor ignored us, then looked directly at Luciano and then me, his expression softening slightly. For once, he looked serious. "One year ago," he began, "I honestly didn't know if you two would survive each other."

I immediately laughed while Luciano looked personally offended.

Viktor continued. "Actually, that is not true." He pointed at Luciano. "I wasn't sure Raina would survive him."

"Thank you," Luciano deadpanned.

"You are welcome." Everyone laughed again, and then Viktor smiled and it was a genuine smile, the kind he didn't show often. "I'm happy I was wrong." 

The humor disappeared from his voice, and suddenly the words carried more weight. 

"You two fought for this." He gestured around us. "For all of this." His gaze softened. "And I think everyone here knows exactly how hard that was."

Silence settled over the table, and then he lifted his glass slightly higher. "To you, Mrs Moretti." My eyes widened. Then he pointed at Luciano. "And to my lucky brother-in-law who somehow convinced her to keep him."

Luciano looked pleased by that, far too pleased in fact, making me roll my eyes. Everybody laughed again, and then Viktor added quietly, "And to the newest member of the family."

My hand automatically moved to my stomach. So did Luciano's. His fingers covered mine instantly without thought, without hesitation, just instinct. My eyes lifted to his, and his gaze met mine.

For a moment, everything else disappeared, the noise, the laughter, the conversation, all of it. Gone. 

There was only him, only us, and only the future sitting quietly between us. It was a future that somehow didn't feel scary anymore because he was in it, because I wasn't alone, and because somewhere along the way, Luciano Moretti had become my home.

"To family," Alessia added softly.

Everyone lifted their glasses. "To family."

The glasses clinked together, the sound carrying over the ocean. 

As I looked around the table, at Alessia, at Viktor, and at Luciano, and then at the life we'd somehow built from the ruins of everything that once tried to destroy us, I realized something. 

For the first time in a very long time, there was absolutely nothing left to survive. There was only living, and somehow, that felt even better.