Total pages in book: 38
Estimated words: 35213 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 176(@200wpm)___ 141(@250wpm)___ 117(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 35213 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 176(@200wpm)___ 141(@250wpm)___ 117(@300wpm)
"Gabriel," she whispers.
"I didn't see the car coming through the intersection until it was too late." I lean back against the wall, tipping my head back to look at her from a different angle. As if that will keep her from seeing me clearly. "The car clipped my bike, and sent me and the bike flying." I curl my hands into fists as sounds from that night float up from my memory like specters of death. They live there, haunting me. "The bike slammed into this girl who was standing on the corner. Sent her flying into a building. The impact killed her."
"Oh, Gabriel."
"I still hear the sound of her head hitting the fucking brick. It was the last thing I heard before I hit the ground. I broke eleven bones. Was in a coma for a while."
She glides across the room toward me to slip her hand into mine. I don't deserve the comfort she offers, but she offers it anyway, with tears in her eyes. Cristo. How can she look at me as if she's grateful I'm alive after what I just told her?
"When I woke up, I learned that Mattia and Rafe had paid off the cop monitoring the traffic cameras. He wiped the footage, claimed the guy in the Prius ran the light instead of me. He took the fall for the accident, and I walked away scot-free."
"That wasn't your fault," she whispers. "You didn't know."
"Until I did," I agree. "And then I did nothing. I let him take the fall because Rafe needed me here." I blow out a breath, shaking my head. "I thought I let an innocent man go to prison for a crime I committed."
"You thought?" She casts an inquisitive look up at me. "The accident wasn't your fault?"
"The accident was my fault, but he wasn't innocent. He was beating on his wife and kid. Mattia and Rafe let him take the fall to protect them." I shake my head again, still reeling from that. "Just found that shit out this morning. I've spent the last five and half years hating Mattia and Rafe, and they never said a word."
"They needed you alive more than they needed absolution." She places her palm on my cheek. "Had you known the truth, they would have lost you."
"Yeah." I swallow hard, admitting to her what I've told no one. I wanted to die. "Yeah, they would have."
A tear slips down her cheek.
"Hey." I pull her into my arms, erasing it from her skin. "Don't cry for me, piccola fiamma. I'm not going anywhere." I realize when I say it that, for the first time, it's true. I'm not going anywhere. What was true even two days ago isn't any longer. Because of the woman in my arms, hope sprouts in my chest for the first time in a long time. I'm not cold and the future doesn't seem so goddamn dark.
She's changing me, bringing me back to life.
L'amore domina senza regole. Love rules without rules. Even in a heart undeserving. Even for a man like me.
"I need you, Gabriel," she whispers, tilting her face up to mine. Vulnerability burns in her gaze, right alongside the first fragile threads of something else. Acceptance. She's accepted me in her life, maybe even in her heart.
"You have me, tesoro. Sei la mia vita adesso." You're my life now. It's the truth. She's my purpose, my passion, my reason. I breathe for her.
"I still don't know Italian."
I smile, running my thumb along her bottom lip. "I said I'm not going anywhere."
"For some reason, I highly doubt that's what you said," she mutters, clearly not buying my answer.
"Then I guess you'll just have to learn Italian to find out, won't you?"
"Fine." She smirks at me, mischief sliding through her eyes. "How long are the mafia ninjas going to be here? I bet I can talk one of them into teaching me."
I narrow my eyes, a growl rumbling through me. "Don't even think about it, tesoro."
"Well, you're no fun." She pouts at me, which lasts all of two seconds before she's off on the next subject. Her mind is fascinating. She's never still in there, never quiet. She's precisely the type of woman who could rule the world if she wanted to do it. We'd throw ourselves at her feet to worship in her presence. "Why are they here anyway? You still haven't told me."
"Because we're bringing Alexander Santorum down, tesoro."
By the time Diego Butera arrives on my doorstep, Rafe and Luca have also shown up. My house has turned into a goddamn hotbed of activity, and I'd very much like for all of them to fuck off.
They don't seem to be in any hurry to leave.
"You look different," Rafe observes, eyeing me across the kitchen table.
"I look the same way I looked last time I saw you."