Total pages in book: 113
Estimated words: 106518 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 533(@200wpm)___ 426(@250wpm)___ 355(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 106518 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 533(@200wpm)___ 426(@250wpm)___ 355(@300wpm)
“And I’m only going to stay here until I’ve earned enough money for college. There are enough places around here where I can own decent money with tips I suppose?”
He looked relieved that I wanted to work. Had he thought I was going to live off him?
“There are more than enough places, but few that are fit for a girl like you.”
I shook my head with a smile. “Don’t worry. I can handle drunkards.”
“I’m not worried about them,” he said nervously.
“Are you really thinking about working with the Famiglia?” I panted as I dodged a kick aimed at my head. “I told you how they fucked with the Outfit.”
I thrust my bandaged fist into Remo’s side, then tried a kick at his legs and got a fist into my stomach instead. I jumped back, out of Remo’s reach. Then feigned an attack to the left but kicked with my right leg instead. Remo’s arm shot up, protecting his head and taking the full force of my kick. He didn’t fall. “I don’t want to work with them. Not with Luca fucking Vitiello, nor with Dante fucking Cavallaro. We don’t need them.”
“Then why send me to New York?” I asked.
Remo landed two quick punches in my left side. I sucked in a breath and rammed my elbow down on his shoulder. He hissed and darted away, but I’d got him. His arm hung too low. I’d dislocated his shoulder. My favorite move.
“Open refusal?” he asked half in jest, giving no indication that he was in agony.
“You wish.”
Remo liked to break things. I didn’t think he liked anything better. Sometimes I thought he wanted me to revolt so he could try breaking me because I’d be his biggest challenge. I had no intention of giving him the chance. Not that he’d succeed.
He glared and lunged at me. I barely dodged his first two kicks; the third hit my chest. I was thrown into the boxing ring and almost lost my balance but caught myself by gripping the rope. I quickly straightened and raised my fists.
“Oh fuck this shit,” Remo snarled. He grabbed his arm and tried to relocate his shoulder. “I can’t fight with this fucking useless limb.”
I lowered my hands. “So you give up?”
“No,” he said. “Tie.”
“Tie,” I agreed. There had never been anything but ties in our fights except for the very first year when I’d been a scrawny kid without a clue how to fight. We were both too strong fighters, too used to pain, too indifferent if we lived or died. If we ever fought it out till the end, we’d both end up dead, no doubt about it. I snatched up a towel from the floor, and wiped blood and sweat from my chest and arms.
With a grunt, Remo finally managed to set his arm. If I’d helped, it would have been quicker and less painful. He’d never let me. Pain meant nothing to him. Nor to me.
I threw a clean towel at him and he caught it with his injured arm to prove a point. He dried his hair but only managed to spread the blood from a cut in his head all over his black hair. He dropped the towel unceremoniously. His scar running from his left temple down to his left cheek was an angry red from fighting.
“So why?” I asked, removing the red-tinged bandages around my fingers and wrist.
“I want to see how things are going over there. I’m curious. That’s all. And I like to know my enemies. You will be able to gather more information than any of us just by watching them interact. But most of all I want to send them a clear message.” His dark eyes became hard. “You aren’t thinking about playing happy family with your sisters and becoming one of Vitiello’s lapdogs?”
I cocked one eyebrow. More than five years. And he really had to ask? I swung myself over the boxing ring and landed on the floor on the other side with close to no sound. “I belong to the Camorra. When they all abandoned me, you took me in. You made me who I am today, Remo. You should know better than to accuse me of being a traitor. I will put my life down for you. And if I must, I will take the Outfit and the Famiglia to hell with me.”
“One day you will get your chance,” he said.
To lay down my life for him, or to take down the other families?
“I have another task for you.”
I nodded. I’d expected it. He held my eyes. “You are the only one who can get close to Aria. She is Vitiello’s weakness.”
I kept my expression impassive.
“Bring her to me, Fabiano.”
“Dead or alive?”
He smiled. “Alive. If you kill her, Vitiello will go on a rampage but if we have his wife, he’ll be our puppet.”