Total pages in book: 128
Estimated words: 123153 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 616(@200wpm)___ 493(@250wpm)___ 411(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 123153 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 616(@200wpm)___ 493(@250wpm)___ 411(@300wpm)
“Wh…what do you want?” he sputters.
I tilt my head to the side. “Have a seat. I want to tell you why I’ve always been the one to watch.”
He wipes his brow and takes a seat in the accent chair we placed next to his wife. He looks nervously at her. Tears begin to spill down her face.
“Don’t worry about her. She has her own purpose. You focus on me.”
He turns toward me and loosens his tie. Good, he’s starting to look as if he understands the weight of the situation.
“Riccardo has been using your family for years, but I think you already know that. What you don’t know is I’ve allowed it. The money you’ve taken, the plot to ruin my future nephews’ chances to become made men. I’ve been aware of it all.”
He nods. “He made promises—”
“Shut the fuck up,” I snarl.
He nods frantically as Bertice sobs.
“You listen, I talk. You’re a dead man, either way, so your best and only option is to do what I say. My forensic accountants are revealing every dime I’ve allowed you to skim. When they’re done, Dante is going to get a call from me to let him know what you’ve been up to.”
His eyes widen. “Ah, you see where this is going. Your wife is going to go away with my friends as a little insurance.”
I snap my fingers and Ming walks in with another surprise I dug up. Peaches, the lover Bertice threatened to leave over. Asia and Nadine step in behind them. Now Kaling really looks like he’s about to shit himself.
“Marone. You didn’t know I knew about Peaches here.” I shrug. “My gut told me you’d be more motivated over Peaches here than you would be over your wife.”
I shrug and pull a face, pulling my watch out and popping it open. I continue to speak as if I’ve dismissed the situation before me.
“If you warn Riccardo, they both die. If you go to the cops, they both die. If my name comes up as even a whisper, they both die. If you try to run or don’t play this shit out exactly as I tell you to, guess what?”
“They both die,” he murmurs into his lap.
“Good, you understand me. Your life for theirs. Don’t forget.”
“Thank you, ladies. Everyone has done their job tonight. Let’s give Kaling here time to absorb his fate. Kaling, I’ll be in touch. You have a good night.”
I stand and leave with Ny at my side. The others follow us out. Ny and I climb into the SUV as Jace pulls up outside the house.
“Why not kill them now? Save our resources,” Ny says beside me in the back seat.
I turn to her. “He’ll ask to see them. I need them alive until Dante does his part. And Ma will want Bertice for herself.”
“Your way of allowing her to remain in control. Gio, babe, don’t ever play with me on this level,” she warns.
Jace laughs in the driver’s seat. I sit back and close my eyes. “I won’t, if you don’t make me.”
Chapter 43
The Mission
Nyla
I stare into a bowl of cereal as I think about my last doctor’s visit. I was green-lighted to stop my birth control. I’m so nervous. It could take three to six months for it to leave my system.
What if we’re not ready by then? I see how focused Gio is on bringing this all to an end. There’s no stopping him now. There’s this side of him that locks in and gets shit done. He’s there.
“Hey.”
I look up to find it’s Holly singing to me. I jump up and rush to pull her into a hug as I rock back and forth. I’ve missed her.
“What are you doing here?”
“Gio needs me here.”
I release her and look her over. She’s glowing. Something is different. “How’s you-know-who?”
She rolls her eyes. “Relentless.”
I laugh and tug her into another hug. Jace places a hand on my back. I look up at him.
“She’s going to help you with Car,” he says.
I furrow my brows. Gio had told me to hold off on that, but he never told me why. I’ve been waiting for him to give me the go-ahead. Why would I need Holly?
I shrug it off and wave her over to sit with me. “You want something to eat?”
“Not if you plan to cook it,” she teases.
Jace snorts. I look at him and glare. Turning back to Holly, I reach to pinch her.
“We have cereal.”
“Nah, I’m good.”
“Hello,” Jace says as he answers his phone.
From the grin on his face, I know something else is falling into place. You would think I would be happy everything is going our way. I just have this eerie feeling something is going to go wrong at some point.
“I’ll talk to him and see what we can do,” he says into the phone.