Total pages in book: 137
Estimated words: 126060 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 630(@200wpm)___ 504(@250wpm)___ 420(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 126060 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 630(@200wpm)___ 504(@250wpm)___ 420(@300wpm)
“Nothing my parents have done has made sense since the night my mother woke me up and took me into their suite in the dead of night eighteen years ago. Their private surgeon, Dr. Mortan, was there along with Dr. Vargas, an anesthesiologist, Viola, Noemi and my parents’ bodyguards. Blood was everywhere, and IVs were hooked up to my father with fluids and blood draining into him.”
“You never really talked about that night, Geno.”
“There was no explanation. His leg was amputated, but I don’t know how he was injured. He never said. Neither would my mother. For one year, we weren’t allowed into their suite. There was no contact with either of them. That night, my father gripped my shoulder with merciless fingers and stared at me with hard, pitiless eyes. I’ll never forget the way his fingers dug into my shoulder or his eyes stared into me. He looked wild and not at all like my father. It was the first time in my life I was ever really afraid of him. He looked like a demon.”
“He must have been in tremendous pain. You were thirteen. Your father was being prepped to have his leg amputated.” As always, Stefano’s voice was low and steady.
Geno nodded. “I know that now, but then it was terrifying. He said, ‘You’re a man now, Geno. You’ll lead the family. You will guide the riders and protect the people in our territory. There can be no mistakes. None. All deaths will be on your shoulders. Yours alone. Do you understand? We look to you now.’ Of course, I didn’t understand. How could I? I was thirteen fucking years old. He wasn’t making any sense. No one would answer any questions. His bodyguard grabbed me by my arm and hustled me out of the room. He threw me out and slammed the door shut. That was the last time I saw my father or mother for over a year. I was left to try to explain things to my two younger brothers when there was little or no explanation to give them.”
Along with being head of his family, Geno had become leader of the shadow riders of New York, and it was an immense responsibility. A rider was able to slip through one shadow to the next finding portals to travel unseen anywhere he wanted to go. There was a terrible toll on the body. The rider trained from the age of two to be able to withstand the pull of the tunnels. They could tear him apart. More than once Geno had had to carry a dead rider from the shadows. The riders were required to always keep maps of cities in their heads because the shadows were so fast it was easy to get turned around, and again, once one was lost, there was no getting out. Shadow riding was extremely dangerous. Riders were tasked with the job of bringing justice to those who couldn’t go through regular law enforcement.
“A series of trainers arrived from France,” Geno continued. The Archambaults were considered the fastest shadow riders in the world. They policed all shadow riders and were the only riders who could investigate and assassinate a rider. “They trained me from morning until night on every aspect of riding and leadership. I was required to learn languages and interrogation. I was barely allowed to see my younger brothers and often heard the riders from France speaking in harsh voices to them. That was the only time I stopped what I was doing and intervened. I didn’t care if I got in trouble with my trainers, and I would. They would be furious that I would dare to reprimand them for being so ugly with Salvatore and Lucca. I didn’t have our father or mother to guide me, and my two brothers were so much younger. They were left alone and grieving for our parents. I didn’t want strangers treating them so harshly. I understood they had to be trained to ride shadows and to pay attention to their other studies, but I wasn’t going to allow anyone to be ugly to them. I just wasn’t.”
“That’s why you called me,” Stefano said. “And asked me all those questions about the way I balanced raising my siblings and training them to ride in the shadows.”
“Yes. You had to raise your brothers and sister from a very early age, and you’re the only person I’ve ever trusted, Stefano, with my brothers. I needed advice, so I called you. You’d been looking after your siblings since they were born.”
The two men looked at one another, understanding and deep affection in their eyes for just one moment, and then movement inside the interrogation room drew their attention back to the present. The prisoner didn’t turn her head, but lifted it slightly, just enough that she could shift her gaze around the room. They studied the prisoner through the glass.