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)
I’m not sure where he’s holding the girls, but with the amount of men I have behind me, we’ll find them quickly. Allowing six of the ten armed killers in before me, I keep my Glock tight in my hand. There’s a round of metal in here that I’m dying to unload into Cristiano’s skull.
Edging our way in, I watch as Gio and Lorenzo take down two guards. The doors to the living area slide open and we’re all bathed in dim light. For a man this dangerous, his clan isn’t as sharp as I thought they’d be. In no time, I’m climbing the stairs and heading toward what I’m guessing are the bedrooms.
Muffled sounds come from each door and with a show of my hand, I point in the direction of the entrances to whatever atrocities are happening behind them. I know where I’m headed. The master suite. The only place I know he would have taken her.
It’s been years. Cristiano and I grew up together.
Best fucking friends.
Until a woman came between us.
He blamed me. She chose me.
I hated her.
It was a fate worse than death. I dated her for a short while before I finally admitted defeat. I never loved her the way she wanted, the way he did. When I moved on with my life and found Isabella, I fell hard and fast. She was my first slave. The first woman I owned. With her, I saw forever. But my best friend had already made up his mind. He’d had it out for me for years after the woman he loved chose me. He left Isabella in a pool of crimson on his bedroom floor.
And now that I’ve finally allowed love back into my life, my heart, finally moved on, he’s attempting to take it away.
Nothing could prepare me for feeling this anguish. The throb inside my chest when I think of her being hurt. Raina Lombardi has slowly embedded her innocence inside me. She’s given me everything I didn’t know I wanted.
But with that, she’s also taken my darkness, she’s fed the beast, and somehow flourished with it. She dances with the blackened soul I hold, as if she craves it. When I reach the end of the long hallway, the double doors tell me I’ve arrived. My future lies on the other side of those doors.
Gripping the knob with my free hand, I lift the gun and shove open the door to find a sight that boils my blood. Rage turns my vision red and I command as I enter, “Get the fuck off my woman.” My voice booms through the bedroom and both Raina and Cristiano still. His glare pins me to the spot and his mouth lifts into a smirk.
“Franco, so good to see you. I can tell why you’re so enamored with this beauty,” he murmurs as he gets up off my girl. Righting his jacket, he stalks toward me, stepping in front of the barrel as if he’s not afraid to die.
“Get on your fucking knees, now.”
With a smirk, confident and sure, he drops to his knees.
“Rai, are you okay?” I call to her as I step around him. Her curves find themselves molded to my body and her face is buried in the crook of my arm.
“Franco, the other girls,” she murmurs.
“They’ll be okay. I’ve brought a few friends.”
Cristiano chuckles darkly from the floor, and I rear back my gun and get him on the side of the head. His body slumps forward, out cold. With him debilitated, I have a moment to regard my girl. Her body is shaking and her blouse hangs open.
“Did he…”
I can’t bring myself to say the words. She shakes her head quickly, but when those blue eyes meet mine, there’s something else there. “He was… he just spoke to me.” Dragging her gaze to his unconscious body, she looks at him with something akin to affection. Jealousy roars in my ears and I reach for her chin, lifting it so her eyes are on me.
“What the fuck did he tell you?” The words are hoarse, rough with emotion that seems to be dragging me under. I’m tempted to put a bullet in his skull right now. But she reaches for my gun and I willingly allow her to take it.
“He told me about your friendship, and he made me realize something.” Her voice drops an octave lower as she leans up on her tiptoes. Her lips at my ear when she finally says it. The words that knock the wind from my lungs. “I love you, Franco.”
Just then, before I can respond, the doors fly open and three of my men stop dead in their tracks. “Take him away,” I order and they nod, but not before offering Raina a small smile. Turning to regard her, I cup her face in my hands and plant a soft kiss to her lips. It’s not hungry, it’s not animalistic, it’s passionate. It tells her what I can’t voice. I pour my love for her into the kiss. Allowing her to breathe it in. To taste it. To consume it.