Total pages in book: 95
Estimated words: 91389 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 457(@200wpm)___ 366(@250wpm)___ 305(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 91389 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 457(@200wpm)___ 366(@250wpm)___ 305(@300wpm)
Except that would hurt Claudia, and I won’t risk it.
“We both know waiting around won’t solve anything.” Davide follows me downstairs. His low voice bounces off the walls. “You’re being too cautious.”
“I know that.” I don’t look back over my shoulder. “But Claudia’s too important to me, and Serena’s too important to her.”
“We can’t sit around forever. Tommy’s going to slip past sooner or later, and then he’ll be totally gone. He’ll take the girl with him.”
“Maybe, maybe not.” I reach the bottom and turn toward the emergency exit that leads into an alley. We’re in an old apartment complex. Cigarettes litter the ground nearby. “I think I can smoke him out. If that happens, I think we can take them both.”
Davide doesn’t look convinced. “You love the girl, don’t you?”
I shake my head. “I don’t give a fuck about Serena.”
“Not her. Claudia. Even I can see it.”
I hesitate, letting that word roll around my head. Love. It’s not something I ever said before, much less felt, but the way I am with Claudia is entirely new. It could be love, or it could be something else. I don’t know what word would describe how I feel.
But I know I like it. I know I can’t live without it.
“All I know is, it’ll break her if Serena gets killed, which means I have to make sure it doesn’t happen.”
Davide shrugs and crosses his arms. “There’s no shame in falling for her, you know.”
“I didn’t say there was.”
“You’re acting like it’s the worst thing in the world. Just admit you love her and we can plan accordingly. But this halfway thing you’re doing—” He waves a hand at me. “It won’t fly for much longer.”
I give him a hard look but don’t reply. I head outside and he doesn’t follow. I walk to my truck, frustrated and pissed off, and sink down into the driver’s seat.
Before I went to prison, my older brother Davide was like a robot. The guy was cold as ice and didn’t seem to have any actual emotions at all. Now, I catch glimpses of a deep reservoir of feeling in him. Ever since he met and fell for Stefania, it’s like an entirely new man woke up inside of his skin and is trying to fight his way to the surface.
Which is why it’s so strange that he knows more about love than I do.
It’s only a word, love. It’s just a sound. What I feel for Claudia is so much more than that. The way my house seems full and more alive than it ever had before. The way I think about seeing her when we’re not together, and the way I focus so completely on her when I’m around her. She makes everything else dim and fade away, and it’s a strange but exciting feeling, like she’s the center of my world.
Can I love her? Am I capable of loving another person that way?
I used to think no. But now I’m all tangled and twisted in her, and I don’t want to go back to the way things were. Not if that means being without her.
Chapter 39
Angelo
Cage feels quiet and empty when I head in through the front.
I don’t recognize the bouncer. He nods at me and doesn’t try to stop me though, which I think means he knows who I am. The interior is dim and there are a few customers hanging around, but it’s too early for the real party. It feels like there are half the girls milling about, and even the bar looks a little understaffed.
Rodrigo appears, looking harried, which is new for him. “Angelo, I’m happy you’re here. Your brother’s upstairs.”
I stop walking and try not to show my surprise. “Simon’s here?”
“Yes, and right now he’s sitting at the bar and having a drink.”
“Has he done anything? Talked to anyone?”
“No and no, but you can imagine how everyone feels having the Don of the Bianco Famiglia sitting at our bar.”
I grunt in reply. Simon’s just fucking Simon, except now he’s got that Don title tacked to his name, which makes people act all fucking weird around him.
“I’ll go talk to him.” I breeze past toward the steps but pause before I’m out of earshot. “And Rodrigo. I’m guessing you finished the purges?”
He grimaces and nods. “I’m in the process of finding new staff. We lost around thirty percent of our employees.”
“That many?” I scowl and shake my head. “I never would’ve guessed.”
“Tommy was a good boss. He paid on time and offered lots of bonuses and incentives. And I’ll admit that I was somewhat loose in my criteria for who gets fired, since I wanted to err on the side of caution.” He clears his throat and moves a little closer, his voice lowers. “Also, there’s someone you should speak with. Her name is Ivona, and she knows something about Tommy you might want to hear.”