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)
He’d worked so hard on his costume too.
The fact that my dad dressed up like one too, was hilarious.
My stomach sank.
Dad.
Ugh, I felt torn between being loyal to Ivan and loyal to my Family, I felt caught in the middle constantly. I hated it.
I’d never been out this far, thankfully my phone would clearly still work if I got lost, when I saw the poplar trees, I said a prayer that all spiders would be dead and made my way through the rows.
When I got to the clearing, there were three men with blindfolds on and their hands bound.
Ivan was leaning against a tree, wiping his hands on a white towel. They were covered in blood, I’m assuming theirs by the look of blood running down all their chins and the gunshot wounds in each of their shoulders.
“Wife.” Ivan grinned. “Do you trust me?”
His eyes were wild.
Something was wrong.
I didn’t back away though the temptation was strong. He’d saved me before, this is a role he was playing, right?
“Husband.” I cleared my throat. “Did you make me hike all the way out here to show me half dead men who most likely betrayed you or did you have a picnic planned ahead?”
“You can cut the shit, Bella, it’s good for them to see what it’s really like living with a monster. I figured the best thing I could do before sending them to Hell was give them a small piece of heaven and you know what thought came to mind? I’ll let you pick one to send back, the other two, I’ll leave to you, so it’s really in his best interest to go fast, besides I want to be entertained.” He waved his gun at me. “Pick who gets to run the errand, the other two will stay with us until we get a text back from the person pulling the strings.”
I swallowed, so he needed to prove a point then, I tried to stay logical. He needed one to go back and say he was crazy—that I was crazy too, or maybe even his victim. “And my role in this is to pick who to save?”
Ivan shoved away from the tree. “Do you think that your father or uncle made that choice? Do you think they took into account wives, children, needs? Or do you think they just slaughtered and killed an entire bloodline out of rage? Nearly making one of the oldest Families in the Cosa Nostra extinct?”
Tears welled in my eyes, they weren’t for myself though; they were for the truth hidden in his own words. “There are rules.”
“Exactly.” Ivan walked up to me and wrapped an arm around my waist, pulling me close. His smooth cologne filled my nose while his heat surrounded me. “And one thing I did discover, one thing these men want the very most… can you take a guess?”
“Money?”
Ivan shook his head. “Abandonato blood,” He kissed me across the cheek and laughed in my ear, his heated lips spoke against my skin. “So I offered them yours.”
It made no sense, why save me only to kill me?
He was acting crazy though. I just needed to remember to trust him, to help him, at all costs. He’d asked me to hold him. He wasn’t who he said he was. I clung to those memories, and the promises made in the dark. I clung to them like a lifeline, knowing if I was wrong, it would be my life on the line, and I would be dead.
Take the risk.
Walk down the aisle.
Make the choice.
You go through life thinking you have a choice, and you do, but what if the choice is you or them? What if the choice is to jump, knowing that you could potentially be jumping to your death, not flying toward life? There is always a choice, the question, however, will always be, will you risk it?
“Decide,” Ivan yelled. “Decide who to send back Bella, and then I’ll let the others get their cut of your blood, I would choose wisely, maybe the most injured should stay behind, they’ll be easier to fight off, plus we do need proof I kept my end of the bargain.” He threw his head back and laughed. “Wow, you should see your face right now, do you think for one second, I really give a shit about you? It’s so easy to manipulate people, take for example, these pathetic men… so”—Ivan shoved one to the ground—“easy.”
I quickly looked across the three men, noting their injuries as fast as I could, one was slumping forward more than the others especially after Ivan shoved him down. “He can stay.” I pointed at the one and looked between the other two. One was smirking like he wasn’t afraid to die, the other was serious, both looked strong, even sitting on their knees. “Him.” I picked the one, not smiling. “He can stay too.”