Total pages in book: 84
Estimated words: 82579 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 413(@200wpm)___ 330(@250wpm)___ 275(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 82579 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 413(@200wpm)___ 330(@250wpm)___ 275(@300wpm)
“Movie night,” I say, breathing hard and squirming as he tries to drag me into the bathroom.
“What now?”
“I want dinner and a movie. I want to talk like normal people for an hour.”
“Can’t talk during a movie.”
“You know what I’m saying.”
He licks his lips. “If I agree, can I fuck you in the shower?”
“You were going to either way.”
“Good point. But I agree.”
Turns out, there are perks that come along with sleeping in your husband’s bed.
Especially when you’re married to a beautiful, starving beast like Lev.
Chapter 31
Lev
I’m satisfied, which is a strange feeling for a man like me. Normally, the voices in my head are chattering and gibbering, warring against the darkness. Trying to pull me back from the brink.
Instead, this morning, it’s quiet.
There’s a strange stillness for once.
I’m not sure how I feel about it, but I know the source.
Carmie’s body intertwined with mine. Her slow, steady breaths as she slept beside me. The knowledge that she was safe and protected. My baby and my wife. Both mine.
I didn’t wake her up when I got out of bed. I let her sleep in. She’s been pushing herself hard trying to get back to her old fencing skills, but she’s still pregnant and needs her rest.
I’ll talk to her about taking it a little easy later on.
I’m smiling to myself and thinking about Carmie’s moans as I try to unlock Fed Jeweler’s back door.
But my key won’t work.
I stare at the lock. It’s different—gold instead of silver.
“He changed it,” I snarl into my phone.
Alex’s voice sounds like he just got out of bed. The lazy fuck, it’s already ten minutes past six in the morning. “What are you talking about?”
“I’m at the shop and the locks are different.”
“You’re fucking kidding.”
“My father changed the goddamn locks on us.” I slam my fist into the door.
“Calm down. Think about it. What’s this matter? He still needs to staff the place.”
“Dasha and Katerina can handle most of the work. All he needs to do is throw in a few idiot goons to handle the shit in the back.”
“He needs to manage the books. He needs to stay on top of the inventory.”
“He doesn’t give a fuck!” I’m breathing hard and struggling with my composure. The sun’s beginning to rise, and it would almost be beautiful if I didn’t want to burn this place down for a second time.
Alex is right though. I need to calm down and think.
My father’s no fool. He didn’t reach his level of power without fending off his share of competitors. Only I thought he’d be too distracted by Canada to really understand what was happening here.
“I’m heading out now,” Alex says. I can hear him moving around in the background. Someone’s voice mumbles something. I’m guessing that’s Natalya. “We’ll deal with it.”
“Don’t bother. We’re moving up the timeline.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Meet me at my old man’s place.”
“Lev—”
But I hang up the phone.
I’m thinking clearer than I have in a very long time.
I’ve been trying to do this the soft way. Maybe I still think I can win my father over after all this time.
He’ll never value me. No matter what I do, no matter how hard I work, I’ll always be the younger brother.
The worthless one.
The punching bag.
The cutting board.
My life never really mattered to him, at least not until Step got killed.
And it’s okay.
That’s the thing, it’s okay. I don’t need my father to give a damn. He can look at me like I’m trash on the sidewalk for all I care. I can let go of all my hang-ups, all my worries, everything that was holding me back up to this point.
I don’t need to win over all his clients.
I just need to put a gun to his head and end this.
My voice is steady when I make my second call. Adriano answers on the second ring. “I’m guessing this is important,” he says.
“It’s time.”
“Something happened?”
“I’m moving this morning. I need you to follow through with your promise.”
“I’ll be there, brother.”
The house looks like it always did. A nice row home in a good neighborhood. Black door, black shutters. The face nice and crisp. Red brick with a series of decorative swirls where it meets the roof.
I hated this place growing up.
This house meant pain.
Which was hard because I loved my older brother and my little sister. I’m not sure Nat ever really understood how bad things were—she came too late to understand. But once Mom died, it was like Dad changed.
I became the cutting board. Step was the golden child.
There’s a knock at my car window. Alex gets into the passenger seat and sits beside me in silence. I’ve been waiting alone for twenty minutes, but I don’t know why I haven’t walked in there yet.
“What do you think Step would say if he knew this was going to happen?” I ask Alex. He’s the only other person in the world that might understand.