Total pages in book: 53
Estimated words: 49562 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 248(@200wpm)___ 198(@250wpm)___ 165(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 49562 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 248(@200wpm)___ 198(@250wpm)___ 165(@300wpm)
“Lucca!” Chloe dropped her utensils; they made a loud clinking sound. “They don’t need to watch me every second then report it back to you. Don’t you think it’s becoming too much? I’ve started to make sure one of them doesn’t follow me in the restroom when I need to go on campus.”
“I’ll tell them to tone it down. I wasn’t aware they were making you feel uncomfortable.” He gave her an apologetic smile.
Chloe smiled back, showing him she didn’t blame him.
Elle, Adalyn, and Lake were so wrong about Lucca. He was the kindest fiancé and wanted nothing more than to make her happy and safe. All she had to do was communicate her feelings, and he would move heaven and earth to make her happy. How damn lucky could she be?
Now, if she could learn how to be more like Maria, she’d have it made.
Hmm, maybe with a little help, she could have it all? And she knew just the person to call …
THIRTEEN
TAKING DOWN THE PATRIARCHY
Opening the door to a tall, six-foot, legged blonde brought a smile to her face. “Thanks for coming so soon.”
“No problem.” Maria flipped her blonde locks, letting her know it was nothing. “I needed to go over more wedding stuff with you, anyway.”
“O-oh, great …” Unable to hide her lack of enthusiasm, Chloe at least was grateful she’d have an excuse of why Maria stopped by so late if Lucca came back.
Her future sister-in-law eyed her up and down as she tapped the toe of her stiletto on the floor. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing.” Immediately, regret filled her. She wasn’t so sure she could ask her anymore. All she could hope for now was to deflect and pray she’d be too busy talking about wedding stuff. “How are you able to still walk in heels pregnant?”
Chloe was always amazed how Maria could defy gravity in her tall stilettos, but doing that pregnant was a different feat altogether. It wasn’t only her heels that had her in awe, but it was also the fact she still fit in her wardrobe of short dresses. Maria somehow looked even more beautiful in them with her growing bump that appeared like a little basketball was hiding under the expensive fabric.
“Honey, not even my firstborn child could keep me away from my Louboutins.” Making herself at home, Maria took a seat on the couch and placed her hand on her belly. “Now, tell me what’s wrong and why I’m here.”
Honestly, Chloe should have known better. There was no getting anything past Maria.
“I wanted to ask you a personal question.”
“Anything,” the beautiful blonde said, eager to help in any way she could. If there was one thing she loved about Maria, it was that she was a girl’s girl.
“With whom your father and brother are, and all of their men around you every day,” she began, trying to find the words as she looked down at her feet, “how are you …?”
Maria arched a brow, trying to help her out. “Sane?”
“Well, that, too.” She chuckled. “But how are you you?”
With the mafia princess being a lot of things, she wasn’t quite sure what part of her she was talking about.
“Like, how did you learn to stand up for yourself and be so confident?” Chloe finally managed to come out with the reason why she had asked her here in the first place.
“Well, for starters”—with Maria now understanding why she was here, her sweet voice took a tone that reminded Chloe of her professors—“I learned to always look everyone in the eye.”
Her gray eyes slowly lifted up to the emerald-green ones that reminded her of the green in Lucca’s.
“Eye contact always shows that you’re confident enough in yourself to look them in the eye. You never want to look away first; you always want them to. And especially if it’s a man,” her future sister-in-law began coaching her encouragingly.
“Okay.” As confidently as she could, Chloe nodded. “I’ll try my best.”
“Oh Lord,” Maria mumbled as her beautiful face fell, but before Chloe could ask what was wrong, she answered, “We’re going to be here for a while.”
Lucca sat in the metal chair, watching the grotesque thing eat his way back to manhood until the creature finally returned to the land of the living.
“Two meals so close together …” Lucifer wiped the stains from his mouth. “Something’s happened on the outside, hasn’t it?”
There was one thing Lucifer never was, and that was stupid.
Lucca flexed his jaw, regretting coming here the other day to brag that he had been made king.
“Let’s play a game.” Lucifer laughed, leaning his back against the wall where he sat on the cold, dirty floor. “I try to guess, and you tell me when I get it right.”
Squeezing his fists, he had to remind himself that Lucifer would always try to bait him so he would finally kill him. Unfortunately for Lucca, with the state the devil was in after being in here for so long, it meant anything could kill him at this point.