Total pages in book: 67
Estimated words: 61692 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 308(@200wpm)___ 247(@250wpm)___ 206(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 61692 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 308(@200wpm)___ 247(@250wpm)___ 206(@300wpm)
“Raina, is it?” I question, tipping my head to the side as I regard her.
“Yes, sir.” Two words that do things to me, things I shouldn’t want. I was only supposed to make sure she’s safe, but there’s an underlying sadness and wariness that burns in her eyes. A spark of recognition that she understands who I am and what I do.
My promise was to find her and make sure she was away from her asshole brother, but one look at her, and I’ve changed the vow I made to a dying man. I want her and there’s no way she’s going to get away from me. A niggling deep in my gut tells me to steal her away. I can easily have her on a jet in an hour on the way to Europe where her asshole brother will never see her again. Sadly, I can’t do that because my business here is far from over.
“Are you working tomorrow night?”
She nods, placing the glass on the counter and giving me her undivided attention. Good girl. I want to murmur the words but don’t. Instead, I smile. Silent and predatory. An expert hunter always learns about his prey before he pounces. Before he attacks and viciously devours every morsel of sinful flesh. And when I get her on her back, she’ll be begging for more. I’m sorry, Lucio. You gave her to me. Now there’s no turning back.
“Good, I’ll see you tomorrow, Raina.”
Before she can respond, I’m sauntering out the door with my brothers a step behind.
“Are you sure that’s a good idea, Franco? She’s… allettante. So fucking tempting,” Gio murmurs as we head toward my town car. She is enticing.
“He asked me to watch her. That’s what I’m doing,” I respond, sliding into the bench seat of the black SUV. Once Gio and Matteo are seated, Lorenzo, our driver, pulls away and the farther away we get, the appeal to go back in there becomes stronger. Perhaps my little brother is right. This might not be a good idea. But I’m fucked because I can’t walk away.
“Watching differs from what I can see racing through your mind,” Mateo offers. He’s right. He knows me too well. She’s far too young and off-limits. But then again, when did I ever limit myself when I wanted something?
“Perhaps,” I tell him.
“She’s only nineteen, Franco,” Gio hisses, almost angrily. But I know he’s more concerned than angry. His eyes glower at me, matching my glare with one of his own.
“She is,” I concede. “But Lucio asked something of me he knew I could never deny. And if a gift is handed to you on a silver platter, do you refuse it?”
“She’s not an object.”
“Matteo, are you really judging me by this choice?” I question him incredulously. Leaning forward, I place my elbows on my thighs, meeting my brother’s eyes.
“No, just…” He sighs. “Be careful with her.”
I nod, sitting back, and silence envelops us easily. My mind still racing with thoughts of her. It’s wrong. So fucking wrong. But I don’t care. I never did, and I never will.
Raina Lombardi will be mine.
“This is why I asked you to fucking do it last night!” I slam down the phone in frustration. Pinning Gio with a glare, I bite out, “Get the fuck outside with that damn thing.” He’s smoking in my office again and he knows I fucking hate it.
“Gesù, clamati.” He chuckles, rising from the chair. With a confident stride, he heads to the balcony that sits just off my large office and pushes open the glass doors. Light and fresh air stream through the room, bathing the space in a false serenity.
“Don’t fucking tell me to calm down. Do you know how much money was lost? Che stronzo! The asshole didn’t follow orders.”
Giovanni doesn’t respond. Instead, he puffs the white smoke into the clean air outside. Matteo shifts in his seat, lifting the laptop, and places it on my desk. “This is what you’re looking for.” He points to the information I’ve been waiting for.
The background intel on Raina Lombardi.
Just as I figured—no siblings. So how is it that Andrea has claim to the money and is titled as her brother? When I got home last night, I did some research into the Lombardis. They only had one child. My men who scrape the dark web for anything I need to bring my enemies down found out that she’s the only child, heir to the fortune.
Did Lucio know this? There wasn’t anything in the file he left behind.
Her father was murdered and her mother is gone. Disappeared. Raina’s single. She’s nineteen, turning twenty in a few months, and she’s applied to study at Princeton. She wants to go into finance, like her father. Everything is there, blood type, all known addresses, even the type of contraceptive she’s on.