Total pages in book: 131
Estimated words: 126682 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 633(@200wpm)___ 507(@250wpm)___ 422(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 126682 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 633(@200wpm)___ 507(@250wpm)___ 422(@300wpm)
“You came here to plead for your cousin, did you?” I say.
“Look, there’s word on the street.” Rachele licks her lips, looking nervous. “Everyone knows who did it, and I want justice for Papa and Giorgio just as much as anyone else. All I ask is that you leave Elena out of it.”
I laugh. “Did she send you to make her case?”
Rachele shakes her head vehemently. “No.”
“Here are the facts, Rachele. Raphael didn’t consider Anya or her baby when he broke a sacred rule to shed blood at our wedding.”
“Sav,” she exclaims. “You can’t be that cruel.”
“I’m sorry about your father and your brother. Rest assured, I will avenge them. Now go, and don’t come back.”
Her features contort into a mask of confusion and disapproval. “You’re not the man I knew.”
My chuckle is dry. “I guess you never knew me.”
“Jesus, Sav. What happened to you?”
We both know she’s not talking about the damage to my body.
“Was there anything else?” I ask.
“I inherited most of Papa’s assets. I’ll have quite a bit of money to put at your disposal if you want to make things right, but my condition remains. You leave Elena in peace, or you don’t get a penny of my money.”
I turn my face away. “I don’t need your money, Rachele.”
She walks back into my line of sight. “You know where to find me if you change your mind.”
I give her a thin smile. “I won’t.”
She mumbles, “Stubborn ass,” on her way to the door, not looking back when she leaves.
A moment of silence passes.
“She’s right,” Anya says after a beat. “You’re going to need that money.”
“No,” I say, the word harsh. “I’m not using Rachele’s inheritance to settle my vengeance.”
“It’s her vengeance too.”
“You don’t know her like I do. She doesn’t give a fuck about justice. What she did was offer me a buy-off in exchange for her cousin’s life.”
The color vanishes from Anya’s cheeks. “You’re not going to kill a pregnant woman, are you?”
“No,” I admit. “I’m not going to kill Elena, but what do you think would’ve happened if I told Rachele that? She would’ve run straight to her cousin and reassured her. Something like that always comes out. And do you know what the men, Raphael, and everyone else would think? They’d think I’d gone soft, because what I should be doing is avenging what he tried to do to you.”
“You’re not Raphael,” she says with disdain. “It will be wise to remind people of that.”
“Because I’m such a good man? No, tesoro, people don’t want a good man. They want a man who can protect them.”
She doesn’t answer.
“You should go home,” I say. “You’re wasting your time here.”
“The police questioned me.”
I breathe in. Out. “What did you say?”
“That I know nothing.”
“Why?”
She tilts her head. “Why what?”
“Why didn’t you tell them the truth? Luigi and Giorgio are gone. They can’t kill you any longer. You could’ve told them I killed Lewis and Kearney and threatened you to keep your mouth shut. Do you think you owe me because I saved you?”
“Honestly, Saverio? Sometimes, I don’t know why I give a damn.”
“You don’t, darlin.’ You just think you do because you’ve told yourself that you should.”
Her nostrils flare. “I know you’re hurting.” She waves at the bed. “I know this isn’t easy, but do you have to be such an asshole?”
“Don’t like it? Go home. Better yet, do as I tell you and stay there.”
She grabs her bag from the chair. “You need to retaliate. The men need to see that you’re doing something.”
“I will,” I say. “Once I get the fuck out of here.”
“That may be too late. The club is losing money.” She hesitates. “Too much money.”
“Let me worry about that.”
The almost inaudible breath she lets out sounds tired. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”
Worry gnaws at me. I wish she’d listen. I wish I could fix this for her. Not being able to agitates me to no end. She’s wearing herself out running between the house and the hospital when she’s in recovery herself. She just had a baby, for God’s sake.
“I wish you wouldn’t,” I say honestly.
But she keeps on coming back, and my men keep on ignoring my order not to let her into this room.
She gives me a long look before shutting the door on my ugly words.
Chapter
Ten
Anya
* * *
The countdown to Saverio’s discharge continues in a blur of activity that leaves me drained. I check in on Bertrand regularly. My mom never did return to the rehab center. I shouldn’t be surprised, but I thought my ultimatum would’ve served as a final wake-up call. I really believed she’d make an effort if she knew she had no other options left. I lie awake at night, worrying, but every morning when I call the hospitals, the homeless shelters, and—finally—the morgue, she’s not on their lists.