Total pages in book: 58
Estimated words: 56771 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 284(@200wpm)___ 227(@250wpm)___ 189(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 56771 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 284(@200wpm)___ 227(@250wpm)___ 189(@300wpm)
I grin. “Sexy talk? That was the real thing. I. Love. You.”
“I love you too. Let’s just hope…”
She’s going to mention Rosa. I can’t stand that, not when our bodies are pressed so close, not when I can feel her nakedness and the powerful beating of her heart. I kiss her. After, I roll over and hold her for a few minutes. Neither of us mentions it, but I know we’re both listening out for the door. She sits up at the sound of footsteps.
“Leo,” she whispers urgently.
I stand naked and move across the room. She’s right. Why didn’t we lock the door? It’s like we want to be caught.
There’s a loud knock.
“Emma? I’m sorry.”
It’s Dario. I lower my voice and talk to Emma. “Ask if he’s alone.”
“Uh, Dario,” she says. “Are you alone?”
“Yeah. Leo, you in there?”
I move closer to the door. “Yes.”
“Listen, we got to move. We’ve got Fyodor’s location. The prick’s bringing in another shipment of poison, bringing it in himself. It’s now or never.”
“Can you stay?” Emma whispers, taking my hand and looking up at me.
It’s so tempting. I could hold and tell her I love her again or slip my hand over those full tits and… I turn away, tugging my hand free with so much effort it hurts.
“I have to do this for the city. Our children deserve to be born into a decent place.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
Leo
Emma really is magic. The second I leave her, the guilt slams into me. It punches me right in the gut, not to mention a million other goddamn places. It attacks me from all angles. I went to Emma’s room to talk. I ended up taking my woman’s virginity. The worst part is that I can’t say I regret it, but that doesn’t stop the guilt.
“Are you good?” Dario asks, staring at me from the other side of the car.
Francesco is driving fast, speeding down the lane that will bring us to the highway.
“I’m fine.”
“I know the feeling,” Dario says after a pause as he unloads his pistol, checks the clip, slams it back into place then checks the round in the chamber. “The guilt. I get it, but you couldn’t stop yourselves, could you, either of you? It was the same for us. I know I never talk about this, but that’s the fact. For me and Angelica, it was the same. We couldn’t stop either. It was like we were possessed. I bet this sounds familiar.”
“Maybe,” I grunt, checking my weapon.
“But you can’t focus on that now. Fyodor’s a control freak. His men have advised him not to oversee shipments himself, but he’s doing it anyway.”
“It took a while to get this information,” I say softly.
Dario looks at me bleakly. “That Russian was tough, but he’s ready to be turned over to the cops now. We’ll just have to explain that he suffered a few injuries while we stopped him from killing your lady.”
I clench my hand tight around my pistol when he says that. I remember Emma’s look when that monster wrapped his arm around her, trapping and threatening her. Hell, was that only yesterday?
“No. Leave him. I’ll put a bullet in his head when we get back.”
Dario runs a hand through his black hair, wincing. “I thought you might say that, so I’ve already sent him to our police contact.”
“Why the fuck would you do that, Dario?”
His expression softens. The little boy emerges. “I think you’ll thank me for it when you and Emma settle in, and Rosa gives you her blessing. When you’ve finally found happiness, brother, you’ll be grateful you didn’t start with a murder.”
“That didn’t stop you with Matvei, and it won’t stop me. I can find him.”
“It’s already done, and you’re right. It didn’t stop me, but you’ve got the hope you’ll be happy someday. I’ll always be stuck in the past. It doesn’t matter how many dark deeds I do. I’m too far gone.”
“I hate when you talk like that. It’s not true.”
“For me, Leo, just let the police have him.”
“I killed a man yesterday. I’ll probably have to kill more today. What difference does this make?”
“It changes you, coldly executing somebody. It wears on a man.”
I study my little brother, the pain in his eyes. He was rushed far too quickly into this life. There’s nothing left to do. If Dario does something, it’s always effective. I could get the Russian back from the police or arrange to have him killed in prison.
“He better get a long, long sentence,” I growl. “If there’s any chance he gets out…”
“He’s getting life. I’ve already made sure of that.”
I grunt and turn to the window.
“When the war’s over, we can return to normal, can’t we? To being normal?”
“Were we ever normal?” I say.
“Maybe not. I don’t know. Maybe when we were kids.”
We don’t say anything for a long time, and then we pull up at the far end of the docks where the shipment is supposedly taking place. Francesco slows the car down when he sees the flashing lights, the FBI vans, and the uniformed officers lining the street.