Total pages in book: 88
Estimated words: 82332 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 412(@200wpm)___ 329(@250wpm)___ 274(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 82332 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 412(@200wpm)___ 329(@250wpm)___ 274(@300wpm)
Melina and Marco come inside, likely having heard his long tirade.
"You have nothing to avenge father,” Melina disputes. In that moment, I see the survivor. The woman rising from the ashes of the hell he put her through. "I should pity you, but I look at you and feel nothing. You may have been my father by blood, but that's it. You're nothing to me. What I don't understand is why? You had everything a man could want, and you squandered it away. I could have loved you. My brothers could've loved you..."
"Love is just another word for stupidity. It makes you weak and serves no purpose. All you have in this life is what you fight for. You're a woman—too simple-minded to see the truth. You think you love this pig of a man? He'll betray you and leave you for something shinier, and prettier. Then, where will you be with your feelings of love then, you fatuous child?" Dracos spits.
Melina just shakes her head, her shoulders squared, not wavering an inch. "Antonio would never do that. He's been there from the moment he met me. He's gone out of his way to make me feel wanted, needed and beautiful. That’s something my father should have instilled in me from birth, yet never bothered. Soon, I will give birth to the child I’m carrying inside of me.” As she speaks, a hand goes to her stomach. There is a slightly rounded area there that I never paid much attention to. I just assumed she was gaining weight—which made me happy. Now, it fills me with awe. A life the two of us created rests there. Our miracle. She looks back up at her father and continues and I stand as a blessed man, letting her have her say. “I will watch my husband—the man whose shoes you don't even deserve to kiss—instill all of that into our child and love it as he loves me. Because that's what a real man does, father. That's what my Antonio does, and that's what Marco and my other brothers will do. They will excel at it while you're rotting in hell," she says with a sad smile. "I pray that somehow you, Atlas and Aden will see us from hell. I want you to be forced to watch and see the good life that we live and are tormented by the joy we feel. That seems like a just punishment to me.”
The old man seems to crumble a little more under the weight of her words. Maybe my wife was right to face the demon in front of her.
“Melina—”
“One more thing, as you draw your last breath, Father, know that I'll be in my husband's arms, celebrating the fact that you will never breathe the same air as our child."
With that, she walks over to me, whispering thank you. I lean down, kissing her forehead, brushing my fingers across her cheek.
"I love you, il mio tesoro."
She beams up at me, tears sparkling in her eyes—but I can tell these tears are ones of joy and they’re all directed at me. I gave her words that she has been waiting to hear. I wonder why I waited so long to tell her.
"I love you, too."
"Go with Gordon to the car. I'll be there shortly," I tell her. She nods to me before following my man out of the room.
Marco comes back to stand beside me. "You don't need to be here to see this. We can finish this without you. Go to the car with your sister," I tell him, but Marco shakes his head.
"I'd like it if you'd let me be the one to end his life." His words shocking me.
"If that’s what you want. I won’t rob you of that right, but are you sure?" I ask him, searching for any sign that I should say no.
"I need to be the one to send this miserable fuck to hell," Marco confirms. He steps away from me and looks down at one of Dracos' men. "Daniel, do you want to live or die?"
The guard looks panicky. "L-live."
"You know the drill then," Marco murmurs coldly. "Go get the family crest. Lodi, you follow him while he gets it." Lodi nods.
"Yes sir, thank you, sir. I'll get it now," Daniel sobs, standing up and bowing repeatedly to Marcos.
I scratch the side of my face, fingertips pushing through my beard, as I wonder exactly where this is going. Marco walks over to his father. "How does it feel, old man, to see everything you tried to achieve disappear before your eyes?"
"You are a fucking traitor," Dracos growls. "How could you kill your own brother?"
Marco lets out a cold laugh. "You mean like you ordered them to do to me?"
Dracos spits at Marco. "You aren't worthy of the Stratakis name. You never were."