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)
“You had one job. One. Even when I found out you’ve been manipulating this all this time, I was willing to forgive you. This… this I can never forgive you for. Just when I was going to let go because I trust you, you go and fuck me over.”
“You need to calm down,” Jace says calmly.
Too calmly. I would think he did nothing at all. Yet my brain keeps screaming that they were ticketed for public lewdness.
I can’t even imagine what they were caught doing. I don’t know if I’m more pissed that someone saw or that they went there to begin with and they both lied to my face.
“I knew I smelled her all over you. You said nothing happened.”
“No, she told you nothing happened.”
I see nothing but red. He’s right. Ny was the one to tell me they didn’t fuck.
I’m going to have a long talk with her. It’s time we air all this shit out. No more interruptions. She needs to know I’m not about to play these games with her anymore.
“Are you crazy?” I seethe. “This doesn’t work if I can’t trust you.”
“Gio,” Dario calls from behind me.
I close my eyes and call on my restraint. I hadn’t planned to lose my shit here. This is a conversation I had planned to have later when I could calm down completely.
“Fuck,” I growl and release Jace with a shove before taking a step away from him. I turn slowly to face Dario.
I already know what he’s thinking the moment I look into his face. He knows I was behind Bethany’s murder. What the fuck did he think I was going to do with the information he gave me?
We’re not running a nursery school. We’re a crime family. Do I have to spell that out?
“You don’t have to tell me details…but was this….”
I lick my bottom lip because the air is filled with the taste of incompetence and these people are anything but. My head might explode from the stupidness they’re putting me through this morning.
“What do you think?” I reply. “And if you don’t wise up—”I move in to crowd his space “—I’m going to stick my nose in your shit too.”
“I don’t need you in my business,” he says with a stunned look on his face.
Jace snorts behind me, but I ignore his traitor ass. The thing that gets me—I wouldn’t have given a shit. It’s the lying for me. I can’t get beyond lies.
I grin at Dario. If only he knew. He’s going to be a father. I hope like hell Car isn’t hiding a lie from him. She better have a good fucking reason. Until I know what it is for sure, I’ll keep her secret. Instead of telling Dario what I know, I pat his cheek.
“You keep telling yourself that. See you later, Rio.”
I turn and climb into the SUV, still stewing.
Jace
I know he’s still pissed off, but Ny and I didn’t break any rules. A blow job doesn’t count. If he would calm down, I’d tell him everything. However, it’s the pain I heard in his voice that makes me bite back my words. He really thinks I have it in me to betray him.
For as long as I can remember, from the time I could walk and comprehend, my father drilled into me it was my job to keep Gio safe. No harm was ever to come to him. I’ve taken that to heart. It’s his life over mine. His feelings over mine.
That’s the real reason I never went after Ny first. Yes, I was afraid I would mess things up, but the real reason was knowing how Gio felt about her and that if I took her away, it would have crushed him, so I had to find another way.
As I drive to our next stop, my mind drifts back to the day before my father was murdered. Once again, he drilled into me my assignment.
“Jace, I need you to understand how important it is for you to protect Gio,” he said in Danish.
“I understand, Papa. I will always protect him with my life. I promise.”
“You understand this is why I need you to push harder than he does in training, why you are always to watch everything around him?”
“Yes, Papa. I understand.”
“Good, you are to be a force around him and make sure, like Don Ava, he’s always happy and protected. I’ve given my blood for this promise. Not to her people, but to her. We will honor this.”
I come back to the present and stop before a light. I didn’t know then about the Sicilian mob and their oath. It took years for me to understand Ava had been planning her own la Cosa Nostra.
That is what my father gave a blood oath for. That is what I honor to this day. It will always be my life before Gio’s.