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)
I drag in a tremulous breath, ripples of fear running through me as the truth stares me in the face.
Saverio killed Mr. Lewis before going after the men who laundered Luigi’s stolen money. I’m sure of it. His absence when the murders in Boston took place is too much of a coincidence.
Shock hits me as I realize what I have in my possession. The proof is very probably motive for murder. Any cop who looks at the spreadsheets will understand that the Boston factory managers are dead because they laundered money Mr. Lewis stole from Luigi Bianchi.
Any officer who gets his hands on the USB key will ask where Saverio was that weekend. My husband will say he was with me. And I’ll confirm that. I’ll lie for Saverio. Again and again. Because I love him. Because I’m in too deep.
Before Raphael killed Luigi and Giorgio in a blast that was supposed to blow Dante, Saverio, and me to pieces too, I was Saverio’s alibi because I didn’t have a choice. If I didn’t cover up for him, he would’ve gone after Livy or my mom. He married me to save me from Luigi so that he’d always have a convenient alibi, but he also married me for sex because he claims I have a weird effect on his body that he doesn’t have with any other woman, and most importantly, he married me for my baby.
Nothing stops me from walking away now.
We both know it.
The threat on my life because I’m a witness to a murder died with Luigi and his son. Saverio went as far as offering me a new future in a country on a different continent. Yet here I am, because I fell for a made man, a man incapable of loving me, and now my defeat is complete.
I close my eyes and lay my head against the backrest of my seat as I come to terms with just how utterly ruined I am. Saverio did a great job in corrupting me. It shouldn’t come as a surprise. I always knew he’d destroy me. I gave up the good in my life to embrace his darkness, and all I have to show for it is my unrequited love. The only pureness I have left is Claire. She’s the only love in my life that’s not tainted and twisted.
My phone rings in my hand. I look at the screen. It’s Saverio.
“Where are you?” he asks in a strained voice when I answer.
“On my way home,” I say, sounding as tired as I feel.
“That doesn’t answer my question, tesoro.”
I remove the USB key and shut my laptop. “Please tell Livy I’ll be home in two hours, three max, depending on the traffic.”
“Where are you? I’m giving you this one chance to tell me because I’m going to do the right thing and let you explain why you disappeared for three hours without taking a single damn guard with you.” His tone carries a clear warning. “Don’t make me track your phone and come after you.”
“I’m at Shinnecock Hills. Explaining is going to take more than a few minutes, so it’ll have to wait until I get home.”
“Anya,” he growls in my ear.
“I’ll see you later,” I say, ending the call.
I need to come to terms with what I’ve become—an accomplice to multiple murders—and I have two hours to do so. But when I think about Raphael and what he did, I know deep down where it matters that I won’t hesitate to point my gun at him and pull the trigger. That makes me no different than Saverio. There’s no point in sugar-coating it or pretending otherwise. I’m a mob wife, and just like Livy, I embraced that role with my heart and my soul, giving it everything I’ve got.
It’s dark when I pull up at the house. All the downstairs lights are on. Saverio opens the front door even before I’ve cut the engine.
I grab my bag and my laptop, trudging across the gravel. He watches me with flaring nostrils and a bunching jaw as I greet the guards and climb the steps to the porch.
Stopping to face him, I consider the turns my life has taken. Some of them he forced on me. Others, I chose. It both scares and liberates me. It makes me feel strong and weak at the same time. I’m simultaneously unstoppable in my determination to save my family and vulnerable in my trampled affection. All my power was taken from me, and now I’m taking it back. It’s always been like this between us. Saverio never made me feel loved or hated. He always woke this duality of sentiments in me, setting me free and making me strong while keeping me captive and dictating my behavior at the same time.
But this? This is a turning point.