Total pages in book: 79
Estimated words: 77205 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 386(@200wpm)___ 309(@250wpm)___ 257(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 77205 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 386(@200wpm)___ 309(@250wpm)___ 257(@300wpm)
Silvano had it.
So had Silvano’s boss, Lorenzo, when I’d met him.
They could be members of Silvano’s family.
But there was no way to know for sure.
“Nice car out there,” the younger one, said, nodding at me. “Did it come with a rosary in the glovebox?”
It had.
A silver and tiger’s eye rosary.
I’d seen it when I’d been looking for a tissue or spare napkin when Silvano had been in the big box store.
There was no way someone could have just… known that. Unless the car belonged to them?
Silvano told me that he never drove newer model cars, not liking the built-in GPS. So, clearly, the car he’d come to rescue me in wasn’t his own. Maybe he’d just grabbed the closest one. Then the rightful owner had come to track it, and him, down.
The older of the brothers approached, holding a hand up in a peaceful gesture, but keeping it low enough that it didn’t alert the clerk’s attention.
“My name is Miko,” he said. “This is my brother Neo. We work for—“
“Cosimo Costa,” I filled in, knowing those names from the stories Silvano had told me. Always doing so carefully, not giving everything away for safety reasons, but enough to have me intrigued.
“That’s right,” Miko agreed, nodding.
“What is Cosimo’s dog’s name?” I asked, wanting to be certain before I moved away from the safety of the clerk and the nearby exit.
“Abbey,” Miko said. “Think she’s fucking old enough to have seen Christ resurrect,” he added with a smirk that was ridiculously charming.
That was right.
Okay.
I was about ninety-eight percent sure these guys were who they said they were.
“Is Sil here?” Miko asked. My face must have fallen, because Miko’s chin lifted, his head nodding. “Okay. Where’d he go? What’s he into? I need details if I’m gonna get him out of some sort of mess.”
That was exactly the kind of way the Miko that Silvano had described to me would speak. Calm, collected, ready to jump into action, no matter the situation. That was why his brother Cosimo relied on him so much.
Young and hungry, Silvano had described him. Carried himself like a mobster.
“It’s… a long story,” I said, stiffening when a group of men broke around us on their way toward the elevator.
Miko nodded. “Got a room?”
Was it smart to invite two strange, likely dangerous, men into my hotel room? No, probably not. But we couldn’t talk about this kind of thing out in the open either.
I nodded, leading them to the elevator, and moving inside, keeping Storm in front of me like a barrier, even though he didn’t seem to think there was any threat from Miko and Neo.
We made our way into the suite, but I didn’t release Miko’s leash as the men moved into the living area.
“Alright, sugar, the fuck is going on?” Miko asked, and the pet name almost made me smile. If I wasn’t so bone-deep worried about Silvano, I would have. “He’s been keeping shit to himself for a long time now. Figure you might be the root of that. Because I’m not buying the story about some pretty, but air-headed chick who thinks she’s getting engaged to Sil soon.”
“Okay,” I said, further convinced they were who they said they were since, yeah, I’d definitely made myself seem like an airhead to Lorenzo and Giana, mostly in an attempt to embarrass Silvano. “Ah, I guess… it goes back to… whatever happened in the city that led him into the woods.”
“The woods,” Miko repeated.
“Yeah. My father and uncle have a hunting cabin around here,” I said, waving my hand toward the windows.
“And you were hiding out there because you got some bad guys chasing your ass, am I right?” Miko asked, actually making my lips curve up at his unique way of speaking, and the accent that I just… couldn’t quite place. It wasn’t like Silvano’s, but it wasn’t regionally that different, either. Maybe it was New Jersey? Or Staten Island? I had no idea.
“Ah, yes,” I admitted, nodding.
“You’d be surprised how fucking familiar this shit is,” Miko said, shaking his head. “Alright, so, what? You saw Sil in the woods?”
“Yes. And then I guess he wasn’t sure if he saw me, so he came back. And then… then he found me…” I said, waving my cast.
Miko’s gaze slid to the side, his mouth getting tight and his head shaking. Like the idea of me, a complete stranger, getting hurt, pissed him off.
“Then he took you back to his place to recover?” Nero asked when his brother didn’t speak again.
“Yeah.”
“Then someone came for you again,” Miko said.
“Yes. When Silvano was at the meeting with, well, I guess, you guys. I took Storm,” I said, reaching down to finally release his leash, so he could go over and sniff the guys and get some pets. “And a cab and left the city. Silvano came to get me in, I guess, your car,” I said to Neo.