Total pages in book: 97
Estimated words: 88807 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 444(@200wpm)___ 355(@250wpm)___ 296(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 88807 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 444(@200wpm)___ 355(@250wpm)___ 296(@300wpm)
It isn’t long before Siân succumbs to sleep again, and I can’t stop myself from watching her. She is at peace in her dreams without a worry in the world. Too bad that isn’t the reality she’ll be waking to when we land. At the thought, my jaw ticks, and I adjust in my seat, my mind going back to the brief conversation with my father.
Yet again, he’s ordered me home, interfering with my plans. It’s because of him I’ll need to reassess how to get Siân to trust me. We were close, everything I’d done had finally paid off, but then he had to ruin it all by forcing my hand and causing this new ripple in our relationship.
And throughout it all, the bastard still hasn’t given me much detail as to what was so fucking urgent. Much like always, he’s remained cryptic, sparing all the important details. I have been able to gather that shit must not be good. It’s the only time he orders me to be anywhere. When shit hits the fan, and he needs me to handle it.
It’s the only time we have any real discussions. If it doesn’t involve business, then we have nothing to say to one another. I try to think of a time when my father didn’t treat me as just a member of his army, and it’s pointless.
I learned ages ago that the only thing my father cares about is his money, his power, and asserting the dominance he thinks he holds over everyone. We’ve never been close, not in the traditional sense. Where other boys grew up playing catch and being raised to be gentlemen, my upbringing wasn’t so touching. There were no bedtime stories, or positive affirmations, only wrath and ridicule. And the only praise I got was when I proved how valuable I was to his organization.
Boys my age played sports and chased girls around the courtyard, while I learned how to disable and reassemble an H&K G11 in under a minute by the time I was eleven. And by my fourteenth birthday, I’d made my father proud when I murdered a man for the first time. Not that he used his words to bid me a job well done. No, he rewarded me with pussy and a handgun of my own.
Shortly after that, the orders came. I took care of anyone my father wanted gone with no questions asked. He’s never been a man who explained himself, and I’m convinced that’s where I get it from. We do what we want, when we want it, and dare a soul to deny us that.
Siân thinks I’m a monster, but she hasn’t met the man who raised me, the man who ordered her family be murdered—who ordered she be murdered. I stare at her again, sucking in a breath as I contemplate the reaction my father will have when he lays eyes on her. Or better yet, how Siân would behave when she meets the man who’s responsible for every horrible thing that’s happened to her.
Fifteen years ago, I told him she’d died in that fire with her family. That’s something I would only know because it was my duty to end her life the same way I had Marco Giuliani. But I couldn’t, she was meant to be mine, and my father’s greed wasn’t going to get in the way of that.
“Buonasera signor Russo, tra venti minuti arriveremo a Milano.” Good evening, Mr. Russo. We will be arriving in Milan in twenty minutes. The pilot’s voice blares over the intercom, pulling me from my thoughts.
With a heavy sigh, I sit up in my seat and lean over to fasten the seat belt around my topolina’s tiny waist. Inhaling her scent, I brush the tattered strands of hair from her face before fastening my own belt into place.
Tony pokes his head into the aisle and glances back at me. “The car is already there. Your father wants to see you immediately once we get back to the estate,” Tony rambles on, then darts his gaze to Siân. Heat builds in my chest, but I manage to keep from slapping him for daring to look at my woman. “What do you plan to do about her?”
I stare at him, my face void of all emotion. “She’s none of your concern,” I deadpan, boring my eyes into him, silently challenging him to combat me.
“Your father isn’t—” Tony continues, but I cut him short.
“Mi occuperò di mio padre,” I snip. I’ll handle my father.
Tony raises his hand in surrender and faces forward again. I shouldn’t have snapped. Tony may work for my father, but he’s the closest to a brother I’ve ever had. We fight and debate, but in the end, he always has my back. So I know when he questions me about Siân, it’s not done maliciously. But it doesn’t mean I’ll ever allow him or any man to question me where she is concerned.