Total pages in book: 153
Estimated words: 148962 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 745(@200wpm)___ 596(@250wpm)___ 497(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 148962 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 745(@200wpm)___ 596(@250wpm)___ 497(@300wpm)
When I let it out, a strange calm washes over me, and I realize just how good that felt. It’s like my lungs have fully expanded, and I’m taking my first real breath in years.
Eros tips my chin up, stroking my face with such tenderness, it feels like nothing less than reverence.
“Your voice might shake at first,” he murmurs. “But I promise you, baby, you’ll learn how to roar.”
I nod through my tears, and he sits with me quietly, rubbing my back and letting me just be in the moment. I could almost fall asleep right here, but I suspect our conversation isn’t over, and he confirms it.
“Will you tell me what that other asshole said to you on the phone?”
A thread of darkness bleeds through his tone, and it occurs to me he must be monitoring my phone somehow. He seems to sense what I’m thinking, and he doesn’t deny it.
“I saw that he called you.”
“You saw, or you heard?” I question, wondering what the extent of his surveillance actually is.
“I didn’t hear the conversation.” He sounds irritated by that, like he wishes he had.
“At some point, we need to talk about your stalking tendencies. But can we save that and the Riccardo conversation for later? I don’t want to think about him right now.”
A long stretch of silence follows, and I can tell it bothers him not knowing what Riccardo said to me. But he doesn’t push it right now.
“Let’s talk about school, then. Are you ready to go back?”
“Why do you care?” I ask, not meaning for it to sound so blunt, but genuinely curious.
“Because you love school.” He pulls me a little closer. “And I want you to be happy.”
Those words trigger an unexpected rush of emotion, for the simple fact that no other man has ever said that to me.
“Dammit.” I press at the edges of my eyes, laughing at the absurdity of it. “Here comes the waterworks again. I’m sorry.”
“You don’t need to apologize,” he says. “But we’ll save that for the next therapy session.”
I offer him a smile, but it fades quickly.
“The thing is, I do love school, but it’s been really uncomfortable lately. I think the members of Imperium have told everyone I was with Nate the night he disappeared, and now they keep whispering and staring at me. They’ve made it pretty clear I’m not wanted there.”
His body goes unnaturally still beneath me, and his grip on me tightens with quiet possession.
“I wish you’d told me.”
“I just wanted to forget it ever happened, but it doesn’t look like that’s possible.”
“I don’t want you to worry about it,” he answers softly. “We’ll figure it out, okay?”
I don’t know how, but I nod, because I’m too exhausted to think about it right now. Instead, I lean into his hold and let out a happy little sigh.
“I imagine this is how Beppe feels when he crawls inside my sweater.”
“It’s like having your very own emotional support sociopath.”
“If the diagnosis fits,” I muse. “Does that mean you’re not going to ghost me again?”
“No,” he promises. “I won’t do that again.”
I believe him, but I can also tell something is off with him. He keeps trying to warn me away, and there has to be a reason for it. But like everything else, it feels too big to unpack at the moment.
“Secret for a secret?” I ask.
“Okay. You first.”
“I think about you…a lot.”
A long stretch of silence passes as he brushes my hair back, and when he finally speaks, his voice is rougher than it was a moment ago.
“I think about you, too, Gabi. All the time.”
25
ROMEO
[ENTRY 010] — CRITICAL FAILURE
> System breach in progress.
> Firewalls collapsing.
> Access not granted. She bypassed it.
> Recovery protocol unavailable.
“Do I even want to know what you did to him?”
Angelo tracks Richard’s mutilated corpse as I drag him to the incinerator.
“The fucker had it coming.”
“And?” He fixes me with a look. “Did you get anything out of him?”
“Wasn’t trying to. This was just because I felt like it.”
I already have everything I could need on Imperium and their family members, but I had a point to make. Richard so much as hinting at a threat toward Gabi earned him a brutal death, and I gave him one.
“You have everything handled with the rest of the council members?” Angelo asks.
“Yes. I’ve established multiple ties to the Bratva—offshore transfers, backdated texts, threats, and encrypted files documenting blackmail. Any connection to us has been scrubbed.”
“Good.” He nods. “They haven’t found the remnants yet, but they’re expanding the search grid.”
A grunt echoes inside the woodshed behind us, and a moment later, Winston’s corpse comes flying out and lands with a heavy thud.
Cristian appears in the doorway, his blood-soaked shirt rolled up at the sleeves.
“Feel better now?” Angelo smirks at him.
“I did it for Marco,” Cristian bites out.