Total pages in book: 58
Estimated words: 56680 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 283(@200wpm)___ 227(@250wpm)___ 189(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 56680 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 283(@200wpm)___ 227(@250wpm)___ 189(@300wpm)
The second is a photo of a painting. It’s Shadow, Colt’s dog, painted as though he’s staring wisely at the observer. I want to comment on the painting and ignore the first message and its implications.
I thought that was both of us, I reply, sitting in the open-plan apartment. It still smells like Mia on the bed, and at any second, I could roll over and find my woman there, wrap my arm around her, and bring her in for one of our embraces. I felt so peaceful with her, far more than I ever have otherwise.
Where have you been?
Just… handling business.
Those three dots mean a whole lot. We’re texting. You didn’t have to put those.
We’re going to right some wrongs soon, Mia.
I need to be there if you’re talking about what I think you are.
I bite down, wondering if I can let that happen. It’s against the Family way of life if nothing else. We don’t get the woman involved in the violence, but this isn’t Family business. It’s family business.
She sends me a follow-up text. Now I bet you’re sitting there thinking about how you can’t let that happen, how I’m too weak, delicate, or whatever. FUCK. THAT. I’m not some scared little kid anymore, waiting in the dark.
The choice has to be yours, I reply. No matter how I feel about it.
How DO you feel?
You don’t need that darkness in your soul, Mia. You’re too good. You’re too loving. You’re too YOU. Yes, he deserved it when I did what I had to do, but he still took a piece of me. It’ll do the same to you.
Maybe it’ll be worth it to right that wrong.
I sigh, sitting up and resting my elbows on my knees. I wish I had an easy answer to this. If I were in Mia’s position, I would want to take as much vengeance as possible, too. I would want to do everything in my power to hurt him. Bad.
That painting is amazing, I tell her.
Ah, so we’re changing the subject?
I smirk. I thought I was being smooth about it.
Thanks, she replies.
I look at her short reply. Maybe it has something to do with the fact we skimmed over the whole “long-term” thing, but I’m not in the mood to even think about it right now. I have to focus on today, tomorrow, and maybe the one after, but that’s it.
My phone vibrates again. It’s so different trying to sleep without you holding me.
It’s so different without being the one to hold you, I tell her. I’m in our bed.
At our place? I probably shouldn’t call it that. It probably makes me even crazier.
It’s how I’ll always think of it.
Always?
I tighten my grip on the phone. Dammit. It’s like landmines are waiting around every corner.
Sorry, she follows up. That was a bit too much. I need to chill.
It’s like I said before, Mia. I thought we both agreed on that.
I don’t even want to talk about it anymore.
Talk about mixed signals. It’s easier when you’re here with me. Then I can kiss you anytime I don’t know what to say.
Yeah, but we’ve been FORBIDDEN, remember?
He wants us to stop just in case a certain person sees, and he can use it to get support, but nobody will support him. Soon, that won’t even be a problem.
What about Colt’s security?
Despite the long day, my heart starts pounding. It’s one past midnight. Technically, it’s a new day—a new adventure.
We can find a way around that, I tell her, only if you want to. It’ll mean not getting much sleep.
I’m not going to sleep, anyway, she replies, not without you.
CHAPTER 23
Mia
I sit at the back door, letting in a cool sliver of night air. There’s a tickle of anxiety and something else, something more filled with desire, fluttering through my body. Colt or Lexi could walk down here any second, but would they, really, at one a.m.? I hold the phone in both hands, waiting for a vibration.
He’s risking a lot to do this. The mafia king told him no, but he can’t stop. He didn’t even hesitate. The connection burns in me, somehow overpowering everything, making all the trauma, regret, guilt, and self-blame somehow easier to take.
The phone buzzes. The northwest corner. The garden door. I’ve unlocked the padlock and disabled the sensor. The security lights should be down for a minute. Go, Mia.
I don’t know where northwest…
I stop, delete the message, and then open the maps app on my phone. Finding the correct corner, I walk across the garden, my heart thumping. It’s not the act of sneaking out, the risk of getting caught. It’s the thought of seeing him again. I push open the door and shut it quietly behind me.
This leads to a small courtyard area, still Colt’s property, with another gate. Dante climbs over the wall, wearing all black, his eyes gleaming in the dark as he walks over to me. I gasp and grab onto him, squeezing his firm body, holding him tightly against me.