Total pages in book: 99
Estimated words: 96129 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 481(@200wpm)___ 385(@250wpm)___ 320(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 96129 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 481(@200wpm)___ 385(@250wpm)___ 320(@300wpm)
Their blessings. I bit back a harsh laugh. They were so fucking ancient, these guys, but it was what it was. Technically, Angelo should give us his blessing to get rid of the head of a family. Sometimes I wondered if they still abided by that rule so no one would come for them.
“I’m getting rid of both of them,” I said. “All of them.”
“All of them?” My father had the nerve to sound both surprised and impressed.
“All of them,” I said again.
“Okay. Good.” He paused again. “Once they’re gone, you’ll have no problem taking over their territories.”
“We don’t need your permission for that part,” I said, because I liked to remind him where his reign ended when it came to what happened over here.
We said our goodbyes. He had to know that even if he hadn’t called, I would have gotten rid of both of them. I wondered if this was a favor for him or a gift to me. He’d said I was heartbroken, since that was how my brother had been describing me lately. I wasn’t heartbroken; I was just broken, and broken men did reckless things. I’d been good for a couple of years now. I hadn’t lied to Rosie when she asked about that. I planned to keep it that way until now. As far as I was concerned, I had nothing left to lose. Even though they’d let her live, they’d fucked with her and ultimately, they took her from me. Surely, they’d heard rumors about me and the way I operated. Maybe Tommy’s angle was just to get his money back, but Anthony got personal. I’d warned him to stay away from Rosie, and he still went to that grocery store and pushed a cart filled with soda cans into her. I’d warned him to stay away, and he went into her house, waving guns, and tying her up. He’d taken the only woman I’d ever opened up to, the only woman I’d ever loved. He’d learn soon enough. Chaos reigns in the absence of love.
40
ROSIE
I took a deep bow and smiled as the crowd cheered for me, then bowed again when they cheered for me and Josh together. Two little girls wearing tutus ran to the stage and handed me a bouquet of flowers, and I thought my heart just might explode in that moment. I thanked them and blew them a kiss as I backed up and joined Josh again. This particular ovation hit me hard. Maybe it was because it was my first show back after fifteen days, or the fact that I could hear them clearly. Whatever the case, I’d never been more grateful to be there. Josh squeezed my hand and hugged me to his side as we walked off the stage.
“You did great.” He kissed the side of my temple, tilting the crown on my head slightly.
“Thank you.” I took a deep breath. Adrenaline was still coursing through me as we walked down the hall. We stopped in front of the changing room, and I smiled at him. “It’s like riding a bike.”
“Like riding a bike.” He dropped his arm. When he turned to me, he was serious. “You know I’m here for you, right?”
“I know.” I smiled softly and walked into the room.
Every smile was a performance. That was what these last fifteen days had been, a performance where I was playing the role of a woman who was totally fine, a little injured from a breakup, but otherwise, fine. I played her in front of my brother, my father, in front of Yari, even though we both knew she knew that it was bullshit. Every once in a while, when I noticed Nico following me, I’d laugh extra loudly, so he could go and report back that I was doing well. I wondered if Dominic even asked, even cared. I’d been sad when I left the hospital, then angry, so angry, then sad again. Now I was just in a state of limbo, waiting for the next wave of emotion to hit me and wondering what it would be. Would it ever be real joy? I wasn’t sure. I wasn’t even sure I wanted to feel that again. If I did, cool; if not, cool. I was doing a great job of playing this girl anyway, what was a few more years of it? I was almost at my new building when my phone buzzed in my hand. I didn’t look at it. Even though I knew Nico was watching me, I wouldn’t let my guard down until I was safely inside my apartment. The last guy who was supposed to protect me went down before I did. Thankfully, Marco was okay. Broken arm, broken ribs, bruised ego, but otherwise okay. Now the men alternated between Nico and some other guy. I didn’t know his name since we never spoke. I just pretended they weren’t there. Sometimes, when I was feeling up for it, I nodded a hello. Most of the time, I kept my eyes forward unless I felt a presence at my back.