Total pages in book: 178
Estimated words: 170884 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 854(@200wpm)___ 684(@250wpm)___ 570(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 170884 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 854(@200wpm)___ 684(@250wpm)___ 570(@300wpm)
How sad. I listened intently.
Manda went on. “When I was born, my father refused to give me his name.”
My brow bunched. What the shit? “Because you’re a girl?”
“No. He did it to protect me,” she said carefully. “He gave me my mother’s name and sent me to live with her sister. I grew up in another state, away from my parents, and this was done because my father’s status had elevated a great deal over a short period. Everyone wanted to be connected to Antonio Falco, even if it meant marrying his children. My father didn’t want that for me. He knew one day Zep would likely marry for alliance, and he wanted at least one of his children to marry for love.
“Unfortunately,” she went on with a smile, “by an awful stroke of luck, I happened to be living a life away from the sleazy underworld my father was so heavily involved in when, by chance, I was working the late shift in an ER in Chicago and I was kidnapped by a couple of thugs. The same kind of thugs my father tried desperately to keep me from.”
Putting a hand to my mouth, I gasped loudly. “No way. How did they know who you were?”
She chuckled, shaking her head. “They didn’t. It was pure dumb luck that they’d chosen me, and when I arrived at the mansion, I was dragged into a room with a heavily bleeding man. He had multiple gunshot wounds. I had no tools, no equipment. Hell, I didn’t even have bandages.” She sipped at her wine then inclined her head slightly. “It was then I was told if that man died, so would I.”
“Oh my God.” I was positively enthralled and leaned in to her. “What did you do?”
“Whatever I could to keep him alive,” she told me. “He lost a lot of blood, and although I removed the bullets I could find and sealed the wounds, I wasn’t seeing the improvement I was hoping to see. After a whole lot of cussing and some wild convincing, I managed to talk one of the thugs into letting me back into the hospital for supplies. By the time we made it back, the man’s condition worsened and I thought I’d lose him, in turn losing my own life. So I did the only thing I could.”
I leaned in, wide-eyed. “What’s that?”
“I told him if he died on me, I’d bring him back and kill him all over again.”
I blinked at her a moment before a shocked laugh left me. What a wild story.
“Countless IVs and days later, the man regained consciousness, and when he looked into my eyes, something happened to me. It was like a spark—faint, but it was there.” Manda smiled softly. “I spent weeks at that mansion looking after the surly man. Day after day, he cursed me as I cared for him, and I couldn’t wait to be out of there. Only, the day I was finally allowed to leave—” She looked at me, melancholy. “—I didn’t want to go.”
“Ugh.” I held a hand to my heart. “You fell in love?” At her slow, dejected nod, I asked, “What did you do?”
Manda grinned then, holding out her left hand. “Married him, of course.”
I looked down at the sparkly platinum ring then back up to the woman herself. My brow knitted. “You are out of your mind.”
“I know,” she said, beaming. “But the right man will do that to a sane woman.”
Sheesh. Didn’t I know it?
Preach, honey.
“So, I became Mrs. Evander MacDiarmid. My husband is the don of Highland Steel, and,” she drawled, “he’s so fucking hot. I swear to God, all he needs to do is talk in that Scottish accent and I’m tearing my damn clothes off.”
Her admission was so unexpected that I laughed out loud, slapping a hand over my mouth. “Manda.” Dirty girl.
I liked this woman. She was pretty damn cool.
She grinned, and I saw so much of Twitch in it my heart panged. “Sorry. It’s been weeks and I miss him.”
Weeks?
Bitch, please.
I scoffed. “Try six years.” When she blinked in shock, my brows arched as I lifted my glass in cheers before downing the contents in one gulp.
Yeah. Take a seat.
“You never...?” She trailed off.
I shook my head, and spoke quietly, “No.”
“Why not?” Her brows furrowed in question.
Because I loved your brother so much it still hurts.
Because when I lost him, I lost myself.
Because when he told me I’d never want anyone else, I thought he was just being arrogant.
Unfortunately, he wasn’t.
“I don’t know,” I lied easily enough. “I guess being a mom just kept me busy.”
As we sat in the open air in a comfortable silence, Manda spoke and she did it gently. “You’ve got to talk to him, Lexi.” When I chanced a glance at her, she added, “If nothing more than for closure.”