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 know me, you know I don’t tolerate lies. Why put Jace in danger, why act like I won’t snap and forget you exist? Why put my life in danger because I’m too busy thinking about you and your little games?”
He flexes his fingers on my throat. I grab his wrist and start to kick my feet beneath the water. I’ve never feared Gio, but the look in his eyes makes me question if this is my Gio. The dark cloud that sets in screams danger.
Jace enters the bathroom and places a hand on Gio’s shoulder. Gio doesn’t even look away from me as he holds a hand up to warn Jace off.
Gio
I lift a hand, not turning to Jace. “Get your hand off me. We’ve had our words. You and I have an understanding, she and I don’t.”
“Gio,” Jace warns.
I frown. “Back off. I’m not hurting her. If she lifted her hips, I’m sure either one of us would find her crazy ass wet.” I tilt my head to the side. “I’m right, aren’t I, Nyla?”
“Let me go, Gio.”
I crack the knuckles on my free hand. At this point, my pants are soaked through and my shirt is starting to get wet. I jump up right before she tries to send her knee into my groin.
“What’s wrong with you?” she hisses as she gasps for air.
“I don’t know,” I hiss back. “Tickets for public lewdness. Don’t you think it would have been better to warn me and not allow me to jump to conclusions of my own as it was thrown in my face?”
“I told you we didn’t fuck. Get over yourself. Just when I thought we could move forward.” She stands and glares at me. Water and suds cascade down her skin. “There’s no repairing this. I’m done.”
I pinch the bridge of my nose and close my eyes. “Sit back down, Ny. Finish your bath.”
“Fuck a bath.”
“Enough,” Jace growls. I turn to him and find him with his fists balled. “Sit down, Ny. This ends here.”
He begins to strip out of his clothes as Ny glares at him. Once naked, he moves to stand behind her and lowers into the water, taking her with him. I nod and start to come out of my soaked clothes, tossing them outside the tub.
Once I’m done, I lower and sit, my arms folded over my chest as I glare at Nyla. I’m going to be honest and say I’m not really mad at her. Yes, I’m frustrated with her, but my real anger lies somewhere else.
That call from Gianni has returned my attention to how I’ve been manipulated by my parents. I haven’t taken the time to deal with that fully yet.
I work my jaw. This is the moment we’ve been waiting for. I remain silent because I meant what I said.
Jace needs to speak up as much as I need to fix things with Ny. Now is as good a time as any since he’s already opened his mouth.
Jace
These two have a right to the anger filling this room, but they need to figure this shit out. Now.
“Ny, there’s a lot going on you don’t know about.”
“So what? I’m supposed to allow him to choke me because of some bullshit I don’t know.”
“I’m not saying that. What I’m saying is you might understand his reaction if you knew how much he needs our loyalty.”
“He’s always had our loyalty,” she murmurs with her arms across her chest.
I pull her against my chest and hold her close. “Ours, yes, but everyone else has used him for their own needs. Things didn’t have to be this way.”
Ny sits up and turns to look at me. “What are you talking about?”
I nod to Gio. “He should tell you. There’s a lot. Things I’m still learning.”
She turns to Gio slowly. “I’m listening. What don’t I know?”
“For all the control I’ve thought I’ve had, my mother and father, fuck, even Nonno have been dancing me around all my life. They’ve been drip-feeding me information to suit them.”
Gio continues to tell her all we’ve learned since the night of the car bombing. I sit, tracing her collarbone with my fingertips while he speaks, simply content to have her back in my arms. At some point, Gio lifts her foot into his hands and starts to rub it. Her body sags into mine as she allows his touch to soothe the tension out.
I release some of the water when it chills while Gio fills in the gaps for Nyla. She sits listening as I add more warm water. By the time Gio is done, my head is reeling like it’s the first time I’m hearing all this all over again.
“There, now you know what we know,” Gio says when he gets to the end.
“Oh my God, I knew he reminded me of someone. I’ve met Gianni. I don’t think he’s a threat to you like Nonno said. He has a thing for Holly, by the way.