Total pages in book: 35
Estimated words: 32946 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 165(@200wpm)___ 132(@250wpm)___ 110(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 32946 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 165(@200wpm)___ 132(@250wpm)___ 110(@300wpm)
They had sat for nearly an hour together and while Antwone hadn’t noticed Maria watching them, he had. She kept looking from Antwone toward him, then back again.
“Well, as lovely as this has been, I now need to leave. Draven, you must not leave your lovely wife for so long.”
Draven forced a smile to his lips and got to his feet.
“Go to my office,” he said, looking at Maria.
Her eyes went wide, but he saw Antwone out the door. No one was around and he stepped up into his brother’s face. “What the fuck are you doing?” Draven asked.
Antwone rolled his eyes. “I can come and visit one of my capos.”
“And you do this regularly with all of your married capos?”
He was silent.
“I’ve already had to take someone out who knew the truth. If you start acting like a fucking brother, more people will get suspicious.”
“I wanted to see how you were doing. Is that so wrong?”
“Yes.”
He wasn’t going to make his brother feel better about this.
“I don’t like you right now.”
“I don’t give a fuck if you like me or not,” Draven said. “I do what I can to keep you safe.”
“She knows,” Antwone said.
Draven tensed up.
“And you can’t kill her.”
“I will do whatever I have to, got it?”
Antwone looked toward the house. “You and I both know that if you kill your wife without me ordering it, that will come with a whole heap of questions. I don’t give you permission.”
“You expect me to trust her.”
“Yes,” Antwone said. “Unlike a lot of people we’ve encountered, that woman in there has shown more loyalty to us than anyone else I’ve known. She came to me. She risked getting caught and killed by her parents to tell me what was going on, so I’m not going to allow you to kill her. Learn to trust.”
“Don’t tell me what to do,” Draven said.
“As your brother, I am telling you not to do this. For your own sanity. You may not see it right now, but that woman is worthy of your love.”
“I don’t love.”
“Then you should have let me die.” Antwone stepped up to him, gripped his neck, and pressed his forehead against his. It was an action they had done all their lives. They were brothers, but they shared the same vision of the future. “You know what love is, just as I know that if you gave yourself the chance, that woman in there would show you what it meant to be loved.”
Antwone let him go, climbed into his car, and Draven waited until he was off his driveway before he made his way into the house.
He went straight to his office and closed the door. Maria was there, hands clenched together, waiting for him.
“Out with it,” he said.
“I didn’t know he was coming. I swear. I know I was inappropriately dressed—”
He held his hand up stopping her from talking. “I’m not talking about the way you’re dressed and you know it.”
She bowed her head.
“Look at me.”
“You and The Boss are brothers, aren’t you?” she asked.
Draven didn’t want to kill her. Antwone had forbidden him to do it, and if he did take her life, it would have a lot of repercussions he didn’t even want to think about. It would cause a huge mess for them both.
The other problem … he really, really didn’t want to fucking kill her. He’d never experienced this feeling before. Draven had no problem killing anyone. Men and women, he took out anyone who posed a threat, removed the problem.
“Yes,” Draven said.
He took a step toward her.
“It’s a secret, isn’t it?”
“Yes.”
“I won’t tell.”
She didn’t back away and he stepped toward her, reaching out and wrapping his fingers around her neck.
“You’re the two sons?”
Draven didn’t strangle her, but looked into her eyes.
“Do you have to kill me?” she asked.
“Tell me what you know.”
“I don’t know a lot. I know the original boss shared the same name as you, but everyone said you were not that person. There are a lot of Espositos. You were the enemy, and you came, killed the original boss, and took over. You took everything from him.”
“You’re telling me what everyone knows.”
He hadn’t let go of her neck.
“No one knows the truth. There are rumors that the original boss had two sons, but he went on some kind of rampage, or someone came in and killed them. He had no heirs, and that was what he was trying to do, but his wives ended up dead. Then out of nowhere, two men kill him, the men that surround him. You turn the streets red with the blood of your enemies. I don’t know anything else. You and Antwone have the same eyes, and I watched you. You’re not just two random men. You have this familiarity with each other that comes from family.”