Total pages in book: 99
Estimated words: 94124 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 471(@200wpm)___ 376(@250wpm)___ 314(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 94124 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 471(@200wpm)___ 376(@250wpm)___ 314(@300wpm)
Again, she isn’t making shit up to force me to prioritize her sister over her daughter. Her words are so gospel I’m about to walk out on the woman I swore to never abandon.
“I’ll go make sure Maria is okay…” She exhales sharply, relieved. She shouldn’t. “But if I find out Valentina woke to an empty room…” My glare finalizes my threat.
Concetta hears my warning loud and clear. “I won’t leave her side. She comes first.”
“Always,” I confirm.
The guilt that pummels into me when I enter Valentina’s room to brush my lips against her mouth is as brutal as a shot of methanol. Every instinct in me screams to stay. To sit beside her and hold her hand until she wakes up.
But her mother is right. Losing her aunt will gut Valentina, and that isn’t something I can sit by and watch.
“I’ll be back as soon as I can.”
Concetta’s quick head bob hides the fear surging in her eyes when I tear out of Valentina’s room and race for the closest exit.
36
GIOVANNI
Harsh blue and red ambulance lights streak the stonework of the Caruso compound when I pull down the long driveway at a speed too fast to be safe. I slam on the brakes, kicking up gravel, before I exit my SUV with my gun in my hand and the engine still running.
The scent in the air isn’t suitable for a family residence.
It reeks of controversy.
Relief batters me when I recognize the generous frame of the person the paramedics are wheeling down the front stairs. Valentina’s aunt is strapped to a gurney. She’s pale and clammy but breathing. Dante is following closely behind her. He’s also pale but uninjured. Shockingly.
After storing my gun, I stride toward the paramedics and say in a commanding tone, “Take her to San Giorgio’s and make sure they know she’s a Caruso.”
The driver nods without pause. His loyalty will be well rewarded.
While waiting for them to load Maria into the ambulance, I pull out my phone and bring up the number of the phone I organized for Concetta’s room weeks ago. It’s the “free” iPhone she’s never questioned.
Not wanting the loud ring setting all women over fifty seem to have to wake Valentina, I send a text message instead of calling.
Me:
Maria is conscious and fine. Being transported to San Giorgio’s now.
Her reply is delivered fast.
Concetta:
Thank you.
She must type at the speed of lightning, because before I can request an update on Valentina, another message pops up.
Concetta:
The doctor said they’re keeping Valentina under sedation until he’s confident they didn’t miss anything. That gives you plenty of time to grab Valentina a change of clothes... and perhaps the baseball bat from my apartment!
Her suggestion re-sparks the darkness inside me. She knows what’s coming, but instead of shying away from it like she did a relationship with my father in her late teens, she wants to be a part of it.
I like that almost as much as I’m obsessed with her daughter. If she’s no longer afraid of what my family name means, she won’t object when I gift it to her daughter.
Me:
Consider it done.
When my phone whooshes, announcing my text has been sent, I store it back in my pocket and turn to face Dante. “What the fuck happened? When I tried to call to get someone to check on Maria, my calls went unanswered. I thought we were under attack.”
The instant our father became unwell, we became primed for our enemies to make a move. It would be the first internal mafia war since the Cosa Nostra was almost wiped out, but only a fool believes loyalties won’t be tested when he’s got everything to lose.
Dante rubs the back of his neck while muttering, “It’s complicated.”
“Complicated?” He did not just fucking say that to me.
Like a man not in fear for his life, Dante jerks up his chin before shifting his narrowed eyes to his right. My teeth meet forcefully when I follow his gaze.
Valeria is in the foyer of my family home, milling around like a fucking guest. Her composure screams the fragility of a porcelain doll with a large crack down its face, but that’s it. That’s all she is. Upset but relatively uninjured… and somehow still breathing.
My blood pressure spikes.
How the fuck is she still walking after everything she did?
My brothers were meant to handle this, yet here she is, breathing in the air she tried to permanently snuff from Valentina’s lungs.
The rage I’ve been struggling to contain all day is too much. I move before thinking. Dante shouts for me to stop, but I don’t hear a word he speaks. The fury burning me alive is too deafening.
Valeria flinches when I storm toward her, and a ton of excuses tumble out of her red-painted lips. “I didn’t know.” Her hands rise to protect her face like my punishment will only involve my hands. I’m not going to smack her around like her father did her entire childhood.