Total pages in book: 57
Estimated words: 52592 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 263(@200wpm)___ 210(@250wpm)___ 175(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 52592 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 263(@200wpm)___ 210(@250wpm)___ 175(@300wpm)
Nico chuckles, but it’s more out of a bitter memory of his past than amusement.
“Trust me,” he says. “There’s nothing to envy about life in Moscow or life within the Bratva.”
“I know, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it like that. I just meant that it would be nice to start over somewhere, like you did when you left the Brava and came to Las Vegas.”
“Funny,” he says as he wraps his arm behind my back. “I was actually just thinking the same thing.”
“About Russia?”
“No, about starting over. You don’t need to leave the country to start over somewhere. It can be as easy as simply deciding to put the past behind you or something as complicated as stepping into a new identity.”
“Like you did when you became the Ghost,” I say.
“Yes. But I’m not so sure that being the Ghost suits me anymore.”
I look at him, surprised to hear him say such a thing. I know that he’s changed throughout these recent events, but the Ghost is such an integral part of who he is, who he’s become, and how he holds onto and honors his brother‘s memory.
“Are you saying that you don’t want to be the Ghost anymore?” I ask.
“Perhaps. I haven’t quite decided yet,” he says. “But I think I might just want to go back to being the man I was going to be before my brother died.”
“Does that mean you’re ready to put the past behind you?”
“Yes, I think it does,” Nico nods. “But more than that, I’d like to move toward a different and new future, with you.”
I feel as if my heart is about to burst through my chest. “I’d like that. And I would like to get to know more about the man you were before you became the Ghost.”
“I wasn’t a man at all,” he says, sounding almost sad, as if he’s mourning the boy he once was and the potential he once had. “I was only a child, just like you were that night in the alley. And I kind of feel like I owe it to my younger self now to figure out who I might have been had I not taken up my brother‘s mantle.”
“I already know who you are,” I say as I pull him closer toward me. “You are Nico Vitale, the man who saved my life and then stuck around to save it again. You are my hero, my savior, the man whose actions have given me the ability to move on from my trauma. And if you’ll have me, I’d like to join you on whatever journey you go on next.”
“I’d like that,” he smiles, holding me close. “But now the question is, are you ready to move on from your past, to start over and embrace something new?”
“Yes,” I say without hesitation. “I find myself more eager to put my past behind me now than ever. I've spent all of these years building a career as a criminal profiler, becoming exceptional at what I do, and building a reputation in this city as one of the best. But none of that really matters to me anymore. What I would most like to do is just finally be happy.”
“If you’ll let me,” Nico says. “I would like to see if I can make that happen.”
We share a kiss in front of the window, against the setting sun. And when it’s over, the questions that fill my head are now of possibility and promise.
“But where would we even go?” I ask. “How could we even really start over here? Everyone knows that I’m the daughter of a crooked cop, and you are the Ghost.”
Nico laughs. “Actually, most people don’t know who the Ghost is.”
“You know what I mean,” I grin up at him. “The powerful mafia dons know who you are. I don’t know how we could possibly think about starting over when our pasts still haunt us and hang over us like a dark cloud. It’s hard to reinvent yourself in a city that already knows who you are.”
“Then let’s leave the city,” he suggests, to my surprise. “Let’s abandon the shadows and chase after a hopeful new beginning together in the Mojave Desert. There’s no one in the desert to know who we are and nothing to stick us to our past. We can take time to discover who we want to be together, and then in time we can decide where we want to go from there.”
“You would do that for me? Leave your life and your mafia connections behind in order to go live in the desert with me on a whim.”
“It’s not a whim, Elle,” he says. “You and I have known each other for years. We’ve been chasing each other for years. Tethered together. I wouldn’t be leaving anything behind other than a shadow that never truly belonged to me to begin with. I don’t see it as giving something up. I see it as choosing love and connection and choosing to be with the woman I love.”