Total pages in book: 75
Estimated words: 72496 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 362(@200wpm)___ 290(@250wpm)___ 242(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 72496 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 362(@200wpm)___ 290(@250wpm)___ 242(@300wpm)
I wanted to scream so bad—maybe even more than I wanted to cry.
By the time the funeral ended, I was still in the pew while people started to shuffle out to the reception.
I didn’t realize that my dad was standing next to me until he knelt down and grabbed Bam-Bam from me. “Bella—”
“Not now.” I barely got the words out, choked them out was more like it. “I can’t, not now.”
“We do need to discuss.”
“My brother is dead.” My voice was hollow. “So please forgive me for not wanting to talk right now, knowing that the person I’m spending the rest of my life with, according to your archaic rules, is the one who made it happen.”
He squeezed his eyes shut and held Bam-Bam closer to his chest. “At least do something with the girls tonight, the wedding is—”
“I know when the wedding is,” I whispered. “Is that all?”
“Bella—”
Ivan chose that perfect moment to come back from the bathroom or wherever the hell he had disappeared to.
Had Dad not been holding Bam-Bam. we would have had a brawl. I could see it in the way he stared Ivan down.
But Ivan didn’t seem phased at all. He simply smiled at my dad like they were best friends.
The nerve of the guy was truly remarkable.
My dad said nothing, probably because he knew if he did everyone would see that all was not okay with the Five Families. He just walked away, Bam-Bam in his arms.
“Come on.” Ivan reached for my shoulder.
I swatted his hand away. “Leave me alone.”
His heavy sigh was the only indicator I had before he leaned down and picked me up, tossing me over his shoulder.
I beat at his back for two seconds before just giving up. I hated that I gave up, I hated that I didn’t have the energy or strength to even attempt to beat him to death.
I just lay across his shoulder, ass in the air in my body fitting black dress and nude heels, and stared at the ground as he walked.
I counted the tiles.
Five. Six. Seven. Eight.
I counted until I got to thirty; it was getting darker; he opened a door, closed it, then opened another and closed it.
We were in one of the back rooms, a classroom maybe, when he sat me down on my feet again and faced me. “Do it.”
“Do what?”
“React.”
“To being carried?”
“To death.” He grabbed me by the wrist. “React.”
I tried shrugging away from him. “Let. Go.”
“Never.” His sinister smile matched his light eyes in a way that sent chills down my spine. “I’ll never let you go, but it’s time you let him go. Junior is gone, Bella, so if you need to scream in order to accept that, then scream. If you need to hit me until I bleed, fine, hit me, but you have to react or you’re going to be no use to your Family or mine.”
I choked out a sob. “You’re a monster!”
“I’m a realist,” Ivan said quickly. “And right now everyone is watching. You can’t mope around, you can’t look sad or pissed. You need to look proud that you chose me, and we need to show a united front. Everyone from Italy is here, begging to see a crack in the surface, so whatever the hell you need to do to get your head wrapped around this, do it.”
I shook my head. “You know one time I really thought we could get along, maybe even be friends.”
“Then you were delusional and pathetic,” he whispered.
“What?”
“I didn’t whisper it.” Ivan crossed his arms. He’d lost his black jacket and was in a black button-down shirt and matching trousers. “Now, get your shit together because later this week you’re going to be sitting on a very different throne and I’m going to need your help to make sure it doesn’t crack.”
“I’d rather die than help you.”
“Looks like you don’t have a choice in the matter if you want to protect everything you hold dear. The Families will be attacked from the outside and in a day the treaty with the De Langes and the rest of the Families is up, which means if anyone else takes my place, kills me, or sees one of those cracks, they’ll try to take over the way I did, but they won’t just come for me, they’ll come for your Family, they’ll come for your cousins’ Families, it will be a bloodbath.”
“That you started!” I yelled.
He shook his head. “You have no idea what I started.”
“Why?” I finally asked the question. “Why did you kill him?”
Ivan’s eyes flickered to the ground, then back up at me. “I wanted what he had.”
I frowned. “You never wanted to be boss.”
“I lied.”
“You’re lying now!” I punched him across the face, my hand instantly ached. While he touched his own jaw and rubbed it with his thumb. “Why did you do it!”