Total pages in book: 77
Estimated words: 74547 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 373(@200wpm)___ 298(@250wpm)___ 248(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 74547 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 373(@200wpm)___ 298(@250wpm)___ 248(@300wpm)
“Not happy enough.” He pulled me through the front door and into the chilly nighttime air. His men were gathered around, armed with guns. Bates was there too, smiling like this was the happiest day of his life.
I kicked Cato. “You’re better than this!”
He didn’t react to the hit. “No one crosses Cato Marino.”
“And no one gets close to him either. I feel sorry for you. I’m the one about to die—but you’re the person I pity.”
He left me on the concrete in front of the fountain. “Kneel.”
I spat in his face. “Fuck. You.”
He let the spit drip down his face until it left his chin. “I will make you, Siena. You don’t want that.”
I drew my hand back and slapped him across the face. “She will never forgive you. She will hate you. And I hate you.” I slapped him again, putting all my weight and ferocity into the hit. I’d never wanted to hurt him so much. If I had a gun, I wouldn’t hesitate to shoot him. “I can’t believe I ever loved you. I’m ashamed that I did.”
He grabbed my shoulders and pushed me down. “Kneel.”
I let my knees buckle underneath me, and I fell to the concrete. The bullet wound in my head would drain my blood into the fountain and mix with blood from all his other victims. My body would be thrown into a pit somewhere in the countryside. My daughter wouldn’t remember me, not even the sound of my voice. The tears fell harder, and the cramps started in my sides.
Cato walked back to his brother and took the pistol offered to him.
I lifted my gaze and stared down the barrel, refusing to be weak in my final moments of life. I’d run away from this man because I’d feared this would be my fate. But then I fell for those blue eyes and those hot kisses. I slept beside him every night and fell deeper in love. For him to do this to me, despite all that, told me he was a psychopath. Putting up the Christmas tree meant nothing to him. The ornament I gave him meant nothing to him. The bracelet I wore on my wrist that very moment didn’t mean a damn thing. “You’ll regret this, Cato. My memory will haunt you every day for the rest of your life. You won’t be able to look at her without thinking of me. When she grows into a beautiful woman, you’ll see my face every fucking day—and you’ll hate yourself for what you did.”
He continued to point the gun at me. “Tell me you’re sorry.”
“Sorry?” I hissed. “I’m about to be shot, and you want me to apologize to you? Asshole, I’m not sorry. I’m not sorry that I lied to you to save my father. I’m not sorry I ran away to save my life. You call me a traitor, but I’m a survivor. And I would do it all over again in a heartbeat. So fucking shoot me. Just fucking do it.”
He held the gun steady with his finger on the trigger. His expression was relaxed but angry. There didn’t seem to be any conflict in his gaze, no pain over the decision he had to make. There was no remorse for what he was about to do.
How did I fall in love with someone so evil?
Then Cato lowered the gun. “You’ve served your punishment. You can get up now.”
I stayed on my knees because the fear hadn’t passed just yet. A second ago, a gun had been pointed at me, and I thought my life would end. I would never see my daughter grow up, never attend her wedding. And then it turned out to be some sick punishment for the things I’d done. “You fucking—”
Bates drew his pistol, aimed at my head, and pulled the trigger.
Everything went black.
9
Cato
The gunshot rang in the air.
Siena collapsed to the ground. Blood seeped from her wound.
She didn’t move.
I’d seen everything that happened, but I couldn’t process the violence that had just occurred right in front of me. I’d executed hundreds of people in this very spot, and not once had I been so deeply disturbed. But now all the air left my lungs, and I couldn’t move a single inch.
Bates shot her.
So much rage. It was explosive, violent. I’d had my brother’s back until the end of time, but that loyalty had been severed in a single second. He tricked me into doing this, tricked me into this ruse so he could kill her himself.
My instinct was to draw my weapon and kill him right then and there.
But Siena was all that mattered.
I sprinted to her in front of the fountain. “Siena!” I cupped her face and checked her pulse.
She was still alive.
Blood matted her hair and hid the wound from view. I pulled it back and tried to examine the damage. “Baby, come on!” There was too much blood for me to see what happened, how deep the bullet went. “Get the car! Now! Someone tell Giovanni to watch the baby!”