Total pages in book: 80
Estimated words: 76501 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 383(@200wpm)___ 306(@250wpm)___ 255(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 76501 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 383(@200wpm)___ 306(@250wpm)___ 255(@300wpm)
We dress in the quiet morning. I make her coffee and breathe the bitter smell. She lounges on my couch wearing black leggings and an oversized sweatshirt, wrapped in too many layers. I want her naked, stripped bare, legs spread, back arched, quivering. I want her moaning.
“We should talk,” she says as I sit across from her. She sips her coffee, holding it in both hands. My apartment’s drafty—big, spacious windows are beautiful, but they aren’t great at keeping in the heat. “About what happened.”
“Everyone’s all right. Tony kept his mouth shut and dealt with the cops. The journalists got nothing from my people. For now, it’s quiet.”
“But the Russians tried to kill us.” Again.
“Yes, they did.”
“What are we going to do?”
I lean back and stare at her. “I’m going to handle it. You’re going to sit in this room and stay alive.”
That makes her bristle. She’s tired of acting like an ornament—she hates the idea of being arm candy. And I don’t blame her. I’d hate to be a doll, stuck on a shelf, while everyone around me gets to make decisions, fight fights, kill and struggle and fuck and scream and bleed. She hasn’t been free for a long time and now she craves it again.
But she’s a target. “I don’t know this for sure, but the Russians must know about this deal we’re cutting with the Greeks,” I say as I get up and drift toward the windows. Outside, people hustle down the block. Nice rich kids sip their coffees and laugh outside of expensive cafes.
“They want to stop it.”
“It’ll hurt their business if some of the crime lords decide to start funneling their product to us instead of to them.”
“The war is profitable.”
I nod and turn to face her. “I think they’re going to keep trying to kill you. They want to rip us apart, and they’ll put a bullet through your skull to make it happen. If they can get rid of you, there’s nothing keeping the Greeks from starting shit with my Famiglia again, especially since we don’t have any official business ties yet.”
“The Russians,” she says quietly and sips her coffee—then freezes as her eyes widen. “Oh, shit, Luca. The Russians. Adrienne.”
I narrow my eyes. “I told you, I already sent Giacomo. He landed and checked in. He said everything is fine.”
“Call him again. Please.” She stands and places her coffee down. “The Russians tried to kill me yesterday, right? But they messed up and now there’s going to be a lot of attention on the city. What’s the next best thing to killing me?”
I release a low rumble. “Blackmailing you.” I put my coffee down and find my phone in the bedroom. I call Giacomo, but his number goes right to voicemail. I send a text, but what’s that going to do? I try calling again but get the same voicemail. “Giacomo, you have to call me back as soon as you see this. It’s urgent.” I hang up and start to pace.
Kacia sits on the edge of the bed and tries to get a hold of her friend Adrienne. When she doesn’t answer, she tries her friend Ceris, who says she’s fine, and her friend Libby, who also says she’s fine. Kacia wraps up quick conversations with both of them, makes sure to ask about Adrienne, but apparently neither of them had heard from the girl for a couple days.
“She’s in trouble,” Kacia says after calling Adrienne for the third time. “She’s not answering her phone, she’s not texting me back, and your guy isn’t picking up either.”
“We don’t know there’s a problem. Giacomo might just be getting settled. He said things are fine. Adrienne might just be at work.”
“It’s like five in the morning on the West Coast right now. She definitely hasn’t gone into the office.”
“Still sleeping then.”
“Luca, stop it.” She throws her phone against the pillow and stands, hands outstretched, pleading. “The Russians are going to go after her. They know she’s my friend and right now she’s the only person they can use against me. My family’s all dead, nobody else gives a shit about me, except for Adrienne.”
“Your other friends are fine.”
“Luca.”
I take a deep breath and slowly let it out. “You’re right. Fuck, I know you’re right.”
“We have to do something.”
“I sent Giacomo. If shit went down and he’s neutralized, I’ll have to send another team, and that’ll take hours. I can’t promise Adrienne isn’t already dead.”
She goes quiet and stares down at her hands. “She’s not,” she whispers. “They need her alive, right? Otherwise, they can’t use her against me.”
I pace across my room. I hate to admit it but Kacia’s right. I’ve been so focused on keeping her safe that I didn’t want to admit I might need to keep her friends safe too. I didn’t realize how deep this went with the Russians, and now I understand it isn’t enough to make sure Kacia doesn’t get hurt. I needed to make sure everyone around her was protected too, otherwise Kacia was still vulnerable.