Total pages in book: 92
Estimated words: 88326 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 442(@200wpm)___ 353(@250wpm)___ 294(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 88326 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 442(@200wpm)___ 353(@250wpm)___ 294(@300wpm)
Leo dropped into the chair Wolfe had recently vacated. “What’s going on?”
I was so distraught I momentarily forgot about my hatred toward my brother. “Cosa Nostra says Icarus is coming for them, so Wolfe went to join them.”
“Oh…”
“Yeah.” I had no choice but to wait here for word. I crossed my arms over my chest like I was cold, and the bumps on my skin were definitely real even in the Mediterranean heat.
Leo continued to stare at me like he wanted to say something…but never did.
We sat there in silence for minutes, and I told myself to stay calm despite the endless pit of anxiety in my stomach. What a travesty it would be to lose him the second he was officially mine. To die a widow after a marriage that lasted a mere couple of days.
“He’ll be okay,” Leo said. “Nothing can kill that guy.”
“Let’s not say the word kill until he gets back.”
“Yeah, sure, of course.”
I’d barely taken a breath when my whole world changed. “Frankie! A line of SUVs is coming our way.”
I heard Roman’s voice from around the corner of the house, and all my despair was quickly replaced by a new wave of terror. I jumped to my feet and felt slightly disoriented from the head rush and the adrenaline combined together.
Leo took off down the steps. “Who the hell is it?”
It took me less than a second to deduce the answer. “Icarus. It’s a trap.” He’d had one of his cronies lure Wolfe away from the vineyard, and the only reason he would do that was if he wanted me.
Well, that ain’t gonna happen.
I dashed inside and went straight for the armory, but by the time I reached the guns, gunfire erupted outside.
Leo came to my side and grabbed a rifle. “I can’t believe we’re going to have to fix up the house—again.”
“Let’s focus on surviving first.” I grabbed the magazines and shoved them into my pockets.
Instead of more gunfire, it was just quiet.
Really quiet.
So quiet that even Leo stilled after he cocked his gun, like he knew something wasn’t quite right. He looked down the hallway, at me, and then back down the hallway as he readied his gun to shoot people to bits and pieces.
“Lady Wolfe, come on out!” a man shouted from outside the villa. “Let’s have a little chat.”
I froze as I looked down the hall to the double doors. The windows were open for the fresh air to pass through the stuffy house, so his words sounded like they’d come from a megaphone.
“Call Wolfe,” Leo said.
I fished in my pocket, grabbed my phone, and made the call. But it didn’t ring.
It went straight to voice mail.
Leo heard it too because his eyes widened. “He must not have reception where he is.”
“I—I hope that’s all it is.” Or Icarus had seen him coming and bombed his car.
“He wouldn’t need you if he already had Wolfe,” he said. “Don’t worry about him. Let’s worry about you right now.”
Icarus released a loud whistle, calling me like a dog. “Don’t come out, and I’ll execute each of your men one by one. We’ll start with the old man, Elio.”
I was paralyzed with fear, unsure what to do.
“Elio wouldn’t want you to surrender.”
“But I don’t want everyone I care about to die.”
Leo shook his head. “Don’t do it.”
“If Wolfe is alive like you think he is, he’ll come for me.”
Icarus shouted again. “Five.”
“Shit, he’s starting a countdown.” I headed toward the door.
Leo moved with me. “Frankie, no.”
“I don’t have a choice. The two of us can’t take out him and all his men. Wolfe hasn’t said much about him—”
“Four.”
“—other than he’s fucking crazy. He’s taken out the other gangs, and he’s a real threat to Cosa Nostra. I don’t think you and I stand a chance right now.”
“Then I’m coming with you,” Leo said. “If he takes you, he takes me too.”
I knew this wasn’t a performative bluff because we were in the thick of it.
“Three.”
Now was the time when lesser men ran off. It was the moment when bravery was snuffed out in the wind.
I opened the door and stepped out, emerging at the top of the stairs and seeing Icarus standing over Elio with his gun pointed at his head. Elio was on his knees in the dirt, looking at me with a hard face, like he was too stubborn to show fear.
I walked to the top of the stairs and looked at my opponent.
Leo came to my side with the rifle gripped in his hands.
Icarus stared at me.
I stared back.
Then a slow smile crept across his lips. He was a humungous man, bigger than Wolfe, but he was just mass, whereas Wolfe was ripped. Every part of Wolfe’s body was muscle with little to no fat.
He wasn’t bad-looking either, which was a surprise. I expected evil to look evil, but he looked like he could live a normal life, picking up women everywhere he went. He could get a decent job with no effort because he was pleasing to the eye.