Series: Penny Dee
Total pages in book: 102
Estimated words: 97669 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 488(@200wpm)___ 391(@250wpm)___ 326(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 97669 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 488(@200wpm)___ 391(@250wpm)___ 326(@300wpm)
Larissa is easy to manage. I have a big smile as I pull the gift I promised her out of the closet.
“Your princess dress.” I show her the pink sparkly dress. She squeals and immediately slides it on. “I don’t have a cake, but I can do pancakes again?” She nods excitedly. Of course, she does. We talk about her friends as I cook pancakes, and I enjoy having a peaceful moment. To live through the eyes of someone so carefree and untainted by the brutality of our world. I vow that she will never experience what her mother has, or what I have.
All of us have scars we have to live with that are rarely voiced. I was confronted with my own once again, pressed by a man as devilish as he is handsome.
The temptation is not the problem. It’s my slight curiosity that wants to lean into it that is. But I remind myself to be ironclad because taking one step on this path will fuck up everything I’ve built.
My phone starts buzzing, and as I go to look at it, I realize it’s the camera activating at the morgue. Pulling it up, I see a guy dressed in all blue drop something off at the door before he walks away. I zoom in and see it’s a dozen black roses. I don’t want to know who they’re from. And they can sit by the front door, for all I care.
I refuse to be tempted by any of the families.
Especially Silas Vescari.
16
SILAS
Damn her.
Damn her and her fucking sexy attitude of defiance.
I think I have found a new unhealthy obsession. It’s for a woman who constantly dresses in black, pushes me away at every turn, and tells me she wants to shove my own cock up my ass. And at the same time, she looks at me with those haunted emerald eyes as if she can see straight fucking through me.
I sent her flowers two days ago, after I left. I sent one of my men to check in on her to see how she did with the body, and when he returned he said that the roses were lying on the ground out the front. Discarded. I really shouldn’t have expected any less from her.
The temptation to dispose of another body just to see her runs through my veins. That is, of course, if I wasn’t already doing it. Sending one Nero member to the grave, as promised, with a message carved in their chest.
Hunting them is easy, though they’ve definitely tightened their activities. That might have everything to do with the phone call I received from Elias Nero to meet him tonight at an abandoned warehouse on the outskirts of town.
Two cars full of my men follow Valen and me. Although I respect Elias, I don’t entirely trust him. It could be an ambush. One, quite frankly, I invite so I can take out more than one at a time.
But when he called, he sounded serious and down for business.
We pull up toward the warehouse, where a single car idles and only the outlines of two men standing beside it—waiting.
One I immediately recognize as Elias. My lip curls up when I recognize the second. It’s the eldest son, Michalis. They look like brothers, though Michalis is a fraction smaller and leaner. Black hair and brown eyes, with a trimmed beard.
It puts me in a sour mood, knowing that once again, it’s not Apollo who is meeting me. It’s fucking rude.
We come to a stop, and I step out of the car, slamming the door behind me. Valen is on my heels as my men begin to spill out of the car, but I raise my hand for them to wait back.
“Mr. Vescari,” Michalis says, far too chivalrous, as if we’re old friends. I ignore him and look straight at Elias.
“Why am I out here?”
Michalis doesn’t seem at all impressed by being ignored, but I also don’t take kindly to someone who has made passes at my sister. He’s lucky to be fucking alive, and ballsy to speak to me directly.
“I have something for you. It took me a few days to track it down, and I apologize for its condition. I would’ve preferred something more respectful; however, I didn’t want to touch anything.”
My eyebrows crinkle, and I finally look at Michalis, who seems to look … proud of him-fucking-self?
Then it dawns on me. “Is it my uncle’s body?”
Elias slowly nods, obviously on edge as he looks between Valen and me.
“Who the fuck brought him here?” I demand, stepping into his space, but Elias doesn’t step back as he holds his ground. His brother, however, pulls out a gun.
“Don’t!” Elias snaps at him. “You told me if you were coming, you wouldn’t be rash.”
Michalis scoffs. “You seem to forget you’re only the middle son. Besides, we’re doing you a favor. You should be a little more respectful.”