Total pages in book: 197
Estimated words: 199143 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 996(@200wpm)___ 797(@250wpm)___ 664(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 199143 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 996(@200wpm)___ 797(@250wpm)___ 664(@300wpm)
She could have waited.
Let it be ... them.
Private.
It didn’t matter, she knew.
Any way at all would have been perfect for Tom.
“Yeah?”
She peered up to find he was staring at her again. Stormy blue eyes, and love right there. Her whole life was this man.
Camilla nodded, and whispered, “Yeah, Tom, we’re—”
She didn’t even get to finish her sentence before his lips were on hers, and he was kissing her hard enough to take her breath away. It sent her chair rocking back on two legs, but he was right there to catch it.
Camilla could only laugh.
So was their life.
Cross and Catherine Era
The Scare
Dante POV
“Go ahead,” Dante urged, pushing the shoe-sized gift box across the table. “Open it.”
Lucian eyed the simple, white box. “Is something going to jump out at me?”
Gio chuckled in his seat at one end of the table. Antony laughed at the other side. Their noise drew the attention of other patrons around them, but they ignored the diners.
“No, something is not going to pop out at you, Lucian.”
Dante’s older brother did not particularly look like he believed him.
“You sure?” Lucian asked.
“Yes, I’m sure.”
“Why don’t you open it for me, then?”
Dante shook his head. “You know what, yeah, man. Something is going to jump out at you—my goddamn fist in your face if you don’t open that fucking box!”
“Dante,” Antony admonished.
Gio snorted at their father’s scolding.
Grown men with adult children, and they were still getting bitched at by their father.
Dante gave Lucian a look. “Open the box, Lucian.”
“I don’t think I really want to open it now,” Lucian said.
“Open the box, Lucian!”
Again, his shout drew attention from the other diners nearby. Neither Dante, nor Lucian, broke their staring contest.
This was a battle of silent wills between them that had been ongoing for months now. Ever since the incident at the restaurant with Cross. All of that was long over, sure, and proper amends had been made.
Things were good.
Except for Lucian and Dante.
Blame it on the fact they were both stubborn fuckers, and too alike for their own good. It made things like this—asking for forgiveness—particularly hard. Or maybe neither one of them wanted to be the one to apologize and say they were an asshole.
Whatever it was, it had officially gone on for long enough.
“You know,” Gio said, “I miss when we were younger and used to just beat the shit out of each other when we had a problem. It was a far easier solution.”
“Right,” Lucian said, passing Dante a look. “This would have been done months ago.”
“Because I would have kicked your ass,” Dante said.
Lucian smiled coldly. “Keep thinking that.”
“First of all,” Antony said, once again verbally stepping in between his battling sons. “No one but you three miss when you used to beat the hell out of each other to settle problems. Seriously, what is wrong with all of you? People would think we raised a pack of damn dogs, and not gentlemen.”
Dante knew what was coming before Gio even did it. Their father had opened for it with that last statement, after all.
“Woof, woof,” Gio said, smirking.
Antony looked upward, saying, “God, save me. Lucian, you better open that box.”
The warning was as clear as a summer’s day in Antony’s old, gravelly voice. His voice had changed a bit over the years to show his age, and yet, the tone remained the same. A good old father’s threat if they ever heard one.
It was comforting in ways.
Almost.
Despite the issues the Marcello brothers sometimes had with one another, they still knew better than to push their father. Too much stress on Antony, and they would never hear the end of it from their mother.
None of them wanted that.
At all.
“Fine,” Lucian said as he gave Dante another look. “Better be worth it, man.”
Dante shrugged.
He had nothing left to say as the item inside the box would say it all for him.
Lucian pulled the gift box closer, flipped open the top, and reached inside to pull out the tissue paper keeping his gift hidden. All the while, he kept his gaze locked on Dante like he didn’t trust his brother with an inch.
Dante seriously hoped this would fix shit between them.
A peace offering, of sorts.
Without, of course, either of them actually needing to apologize to the other one. It was what it was, and they were who they were.
Marcellos.
None of them would ever change.
Finally, Lucian pulled out the gift Dante had gotten specially made for him. A rose gold tinted Eagle—his brother’s favorite weapon of choice. Big, heavy as hell, expensive, and very dangerous.
His brother had but two weaknesses. Only two things for Dante to use in order to weaken and soften Lucian a little.
His family.
And his love of custom guns.
Lucian whistled low as he plucked out the gun with careful hands. He looked the piece over with the eyes of a man who truly loved guns, and understood the work that must have gone into this particular one.