Total pages in book: 94
Estimated words: 91979 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 460(@200wpm)___ 368(@250wpm)___ 307(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 91979 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 460(@200wpm)___ 368(@250wpm)___ 307(@300wpm)
I’d never hated myself more.
“Again!” she screamed.
And then I realized that it was the scream of a girl who was terrified, the scream of a girl who needed to feel, a scream of a girl who was still numb after taking her first life.
So, I gave her what she needed.
I gave her the pain.
I slapped the knife out of her hand, then kicked her in the stomach sending her toppling backward hard enough for me to straddle her on the mat and drive the edge of my machete directly into her left arm, pinning her there, all the way through her skin to the mat, narrowly missing bone.
Her chest heaved as our eyes locked, and then she whispered, “Thank you.”
“Hate you for as long as we both shall live.” I pressed a kiss to her forehead.
“Hate you for as long as we both shall live,” she replied and then, “Blood in, no out.”
“Blood in, no out.” I nodded. “Welcome to the Family.”
The bosses turned around in time to see me jerk the machete from her still body.
Nixon was pale as he watched me pick her up in my arms and hand her to Ash.
And together, the three of us walked away from the bosses, bloody and beaten.
Made.
Serena moaned against Ash’s chest as blood dripped from her mouth. The deepest wound was the one I had made in her arm. It was going to hurt like a bitch, but thankfully we had good doctors at the house, and I had known if this was gonna go down tonight, that Sergio would be waiting somewhere upstairs to stitch her back up.
We found him in the kitchen with his med kit; already, he was getting a needle and thread ready.
“Hold her down, please,” he said without even looking up.
Ash placed her on the kitchen table while I pressed down on her arms.
Sergio grabbed alcohol and poured it over her wounds while she screamed, and I felt my heart crack in my chest as he quickly inserted an IV in the back of her hand and started a morphine drip.
She was out in seconds.
I let her go and watched Sergio stitch her up.
I wasn’t sure how much time had passed, but after a bit, Ash said he had to take off, leaving me with the wounded princess.
“How did it go?” Sergio was stitching up the last wound, the most superficial on her side.
I tried to ignore her marred skin, and the fact that it was my fault it looked that way.
“Great,” I said through clenched teeth. “We had tea and swapped boy stories. How the hell do you think it went?”
Sergio snorted out a laugh. “Sometimes, I forget you’re Phoenix’s kid, not Chase’s.”
“I can’t figure out if that’s a compliment or an insult,” I said.
“Depends on the mood I’m in.” Sergio grinned down at his handiwork and tied the last stitch. “You know there’s a method to our madness, right?”
“Yes.” No. I mean, I did, but some of the rules made no sense.
“I can feel your temper rising, Little Phoenix.” Sergio pulled her IV and started cleaning her up.
“Riddle me this,” I started, helping him gather all the bloody gauze. “Why the hell was it okay for all of you guys to be hopping into bed with each other—but we have to take blood oaths at sixteen not to kiss behind the damn tree in my back yard?”
“So many good memories at that tree.” Sergio peeled off his latex gloves and looked up. His eyes were a staggering blue that reminded me he was more than another made man. He was powerful, and he was Serena’s other uncle.
I was surrounded by Abandonato men who would rip my dick through my mouth if they knew it had been anywhere near their favorite princess.
Literally.
“Love triangles may look fun on TV or in books, but they start wars in the mafia, and history has a way of repeating itself. You know the whole Nixon, Chase, Tracey drama.” He rolled his eyes. “Nearly snuffed out the Alferos. It was like our own rendition of Romeo and Juliet, and then you have the whole De Lange Family line who not only betrayed all of us but betrayed Chase. Imagine marrying someone close and finding out that the power between you felt uneven. That was how Chase’s first wife felt. We thought marrying from within would keep the families strong. Instead, it nearly destroyed us. So, when you think about it that way, it makes sense.”
I sighed. “So, what you’re saying is, love causes wars, hate ends them?”
“No, I’m saying when emotions run high, and you have a gun, well, not the best combination, you know?” He shrugged. “We learned an important lesson from our pasts. Sometimes when you’re too close the way all of the kids are, it causes jealousy, it causes fights, and we need you guys to be strong, not distracted by all the sex you wish you were having.”