Total pages in book: 137
Estimated words: 132791 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 664(@200wpm)___ 531(@250wpm)___ 443(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 132791 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 664(@200wpm)___ 531(@250wpm)___ 443(@300wpm)
“Men like me are unavoidable.” I straightened my cuffs.
“And what would she have done? Go to school? Find a boyfriend?” Chiara huffed. “Why dangle a normal life in her face if she could never truly have it? She’d have been miserable.”
“Her life was miserable. You’ve cut her off from everyone but yourself.”
“She had Imma, too,” she said defensively, hugging herself. “And many tutors. Summers full of culture and fun on Ischia—”
“Nothing to prepare her for married life,” I cut her off.
“If my plan had worked, it wouldn’t have been necessary.” Her hands balled into angry fists. “She wasn’t supposed to marry a psychopathic monster.”
“Yet, here we are.”
“Not for long.” A smile stretched across her lips. “This marriage won’t last.”
“Glad you brought up this subject.” I stepped forward, getting into her personal space. “Because next time you try to conspire to take her away from me, we’ll be doing less talking and more shoveling dirt over your body.”
We stood toe-to-toe. She was small but fierce, like her daughter. Under the coiffed mane, designer dress, and delicate features was a beautiful demon Vello was too much of a coward to unleash. His loss. I wanted to drink from Lila’s darkness in big gulps.
“You want me to believe you’ll hit a woman?” She tipped her chin up in fake bravado.
My mouth twisted with a lazy smirk. “To keep my wife, Chiara, I wouldn’t only hit a woman, I’d chase God himself with a fucking baseball bat.”
“You told Vello you wouldn’t kill me.”
“I lied.”
“You’ll spark a war.”
“This is an incentive, not a deterrent.” I stared deep into her eyes. “Anything else?”
“Stop pretending you care for her.” She pushed at my chest in frustration. I didn’t budge.
“Why? Sore spot?” I tilted my head sideways. She was clearly nothing but an expensive uterus for the don.
She ran a shaky hand over her hair. “Hard to believe Jesus died for your sins.”
“No one asked him.”
“You walked into this family two minutes ago and you already think you know what’s best for her? Tell me, do you have her best interest in mind, now that you’re planning a full-fledged war with the Bratva?”
She had a point. Lila wasn’t my top priority. But she pushed her way somewhere to the middle of the list. Before getting my dick wet, but after taking out the Bratva.
“Don’t pretend you have her best interest in mind.” She pressed on. “She means nothing to you.”
“You’re wrong. She does mean something to me. She’s my best business deal by a long mile, and I intend to keep my end of the bargain.”
“It’s the same business deal Vello made with me, and we all saw how it turned out.” Tears rimmed her eyes. “She deserves someone who loves her.”
“She’ll settle for someone who protects her. Oh, and I’m taking Imma today if I have to pry her from your cold, dead fingers. Imma.” I snapped my fingers loudly. Imma appeared from the hallway, sticking her head through the doorframe. I knew she was eavesdropping, because her face kept poking through the crack in the door when she thought no one was looking.
“Somebody called my name?” Imma asked in faux innocence and a strong Italian accent.
“Pack a bag,” I ordered, not breaking my stare-off with Chiara. “You’re coming with us.”
“Where are you going to house her?” My mother-in-law feigned amusement. “Your shoebox apartment can’t fit a mouse.”
“She’ll take Lila’s room.”
“Right.” Chiara snorted. “And where would Lila sleep?”
“With me.”
“What makes you think my daughter would stoop this low?”
“The fact that she already has.”
Lila tossed, turned, and didn’t sleep all night, but she never left my bed yesterday.
Chiara’s jaw swung open. I reached with one finger, closing it for her.
“Game. Set. Match.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
LILA
I’d really done it this time.
Mama wouldn’t even look at me.
Didn’t acknowledge my existence the remainder of the evening.
What did Tiernan say to her?
It made my stomach churn with panic, guilt, and something else, something I didn’t think I was capable of—hate.
I hated that she crumbled like a sandcastle when the going got tough. That she took a step back from me because I did the most natural thing in the world—communicated with my husband and opened up to him.
That night I slipped into my husband’s bed again. I didn’t hate it as much as Mama told me I would. I actually kind of liked having a firm, hot body next to mine. It made me feel secure.
And now I had Imma in the next room. She would keep me company, fill all those daytime hours I’d used surfing the internet. I found myself choking up with an unfamiliar emotion toward my husband. Somewhere between lust and affection, with a heavy dose of frustration thrown in.
I tossed and turned, as usual, until sometime around three o’clock, Tiernan turned me around to face him. He looked wide awake. He was still wearing his eye patch, even though I suspected he normally took it off at night. It seemed uncomfortable, and he often adjusted it, revealing the imprint of the string that held it together.