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)
“That’s how we found you, yeah,” Miko agreed. “Alright. So where the fuck is Sil now?”
“Setting a, ah, trap. I guess. I don’t know the word. He was getting prepared and then planning to lure Neeley to him, then take him out.”
“Neeley,” Miko repeated.
“He’s, uh—“
“A loan shark and bookie,” Miko said, making my brows shoot up.
“How did you know that?”
“I make it my business to know a little bit about a lot of shit,” Miko said. “Alright, sugar, the fuck Neeley want with you?”
“My father stole from him. A lot.”
Miko’s face softened a bit, like he knew how this story was going to go too. “And when he couldn’t get the location out of your old man, he set his sights on you.”
“Yeah,” I said, the mention of my father making the grief swell up again, and I had to focus on forcing it back down.
My father on that cold floor.
A halo of blood around him.
No.
No.
I had to focus on Silvano now.
I couldn’t save my father. But I might be able to save the man I had fallen in love with.
In fact, I had to.
“Alright. So, Sil is…” Miko said.
“At the cabin. Or in the woods around it. I’m honestly not sure. Can you guys help him? Are you, you know, prepared?” I asked.
“Not enough for that,” Miko admitted. “But I could be.” He thought for a second, then looked at his brother. “You, keep your ass here. Keep an eye on her. I’ll be back as soon as I can,” he said, then strode out of the suite, the door clicking quietly closed behind him.
I sucked in a deep breath, then let it go.
“Yeah,” Nero agreed, shooting me a smirk that looked a lot like his brother’s. “He tends to suck up all the oxygen in a room,” he said.
I didn’t envy Nero in having a bigger brother who was clearly very capable and knowledgeable. That had to cast a long shadow, making it hard for a younger, less worldly, brother to grow into his own man.
“I can go without breathing if it means he, and you,” I was quick to add, “can save Silvano. I think he’s being… stupid,” I decided.
“Heard love makes a lot of men stupid,” Nero agreed, nodding. “Just never thought Sil would ever loosen up enough to fall.”
I wanted to bask in the idea that Silvano loved me.
But there wasn’t time, not with the way panic was a hand around my throat, tightening with each passing moment.
“What do you think Miko is doing?”
“Best guess? Tracking down some more guns, bullets, and maybe some night vision. In case we need them.”
It was dark in the woods.
That was smart.
“And if Neeley doesn’t come tonight?” I asked.
“Then we sit Sil’s ass down and formulate a plan that isn’t a fucking suicide mission. Fuck, sorry,” he said, wincing as it felt like he’d whipped the rug out from under me, making my belly bottom out. “I didn’t mean that literally, sweetheart. He’s as capable as any of us. Which is really fucking capable. But he’s not thinking as clearly as he would be if this was a job, and not personal.”
“That’s probably true,” I agreed, even as my hand went to my throat, wishing I could do something about that tightening feeling there. “I was… trying to figure out something to do,” I admitted.
“To do?” Nero asked.
“To, you know, help him. But I’m out of my depths here. I was just a receptionist before all of this,” I admitted.
“We got this from here,” Nero assured me.
I didn’t fight him.
Not yet.
But I wasn’t sitting in this damn hotel suite, waiting for them to come back. I was going with them. Even if I had to hide in the damn trunk to do it.
“What?” I asked when a slow smile spread across Neo’s face.
“Sil ever tell you we got sisters?” Nero asked.
He had. Apparently, Miko and Neo’s parents were hopelessly in love. And went ahead and had seven kids. Four boys, three girls.
“Yes,” I said, nodding.
“Well, I’ve seen them make that exact same face anytime they were told not to do something, and they decided they were gonna fucking do it anyway.”
“You’re… not wrong,” I admitted. He would find out sooner or later. And he didn’t seem all that bothered by the idea of me tagging along.
It seemed to take forever before there was a knock at the door, and the clock on the wall was showed it was closing in on three in the morning.
Was Silvano okay?
“I got it,” Nero said, holding a hand up at me, then rushing to check the peephole, then letting his brother in.
“We’re ready,” he said, nodding at Neo, who nodded back. Clearly, they had some sort of silent brotherly language, because a lot seemed to pass between them right then that I wasn’t privy to.