Total pages in book: 93
Estimated words: 91243 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 456(@200wpm)___ 365(@250wpm)___ 304(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 91243 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 456(@200wpm)___ 365(@250wpm)___ 304(@300wpm)
Still, she’s everything.
I fight the urge to walk faster. Better to blend in. Besides, I’m just on a stroll down a block I’ve been on a dozen times before toward a big residential building I’m very familiar with.
I slow once the brick-front row comes into view. The trees here are skeletal and reaching toward the gray sky like fingers from the frozen soil. An old man shuffles past with a little white yappy dog tugging at the leash. Music blares from a car. A young girl’s got her face buried in a phone, and she laughs at something.
I’m not sure why I’m so nervous.
I cross the street and head up a stoop. The door’s unmarked. There’s a buzzer and not much else. No number, no name, nothing to identify it. That’s on purpose. This place never gets mail. From what I understand, it doesn’t really exist. Not officially, anyway.
I hit the bell and wait. When nothing happens, I hit it again and start counting in my head. If I reach thirty and there’s still nothing, I’ll walk away and just chalk this up to being wrong.
But the door suddenly unbolts, making me jump.
It opens a crack.
“Allie? What are you doing here?”
Gabe’s voice.
“I thought we should talk.”
He glances over my shoulder. When he doesn’t see anything, he opens the door slightly wider.
He’s unshaven. His cheeks are dark with stubble. His clothes are rumpled like he slept in them, and I notice the obvious bulge of a pistol at his waist.
“You alone?”
“It’s okay, Gabe, honestly. If Mass wanted to kill you, you’d just be dead.”
He grunts, jaw tightening. “Perks of being a Dragon.”
“Will you let me in?”
Another short pause before he finally sighs and steps aside. “Funny how hard I worked to get you here, and now you just show up all on your own.”
“I’m not sure funny’s the word.” I follow him into the house and close the door behind me. The place isn’t very well decorated. Mostly the walls are white and empty. There’s some random, mismatched furniture, but otherwise not much effort has been spent on making it feel like a home.
Because it’s not.
“How’d you find me?” he asks over his shoulder. We sit together at the kitchen table. “I’d offer you some tea, but I’m fresh out.”
“It’s your safe house. I figured if you weren’t at home, you’d be here.”
He scowls a bit and leans back. “I always knew it was a mistake to tell you about this place.”
“Oh, come on. It saved my butt more than once.” I smile to myself. “Instead of coming home tipsy, I could crash here until the early morning and then get an Uber back without Mama or Papa noticing.”
He taps a finger against his bicep. “I never liked the way they treated you. It always bugged me how they kept you in a little cage. Like Mama thought you should behave and accept your life just because you’re a woman. But then you went and got pregnant, and I kept thinking, what if I hadn’t enabled you?”
“It’s not your fault I got pregnant.”
“I know that. But I could’ve been a better influence.”
“You did great, Gabe, honestly. The pregnant thing was my own stupid mistake. I probably would’ve gotten in more trouble if you hadn’t been willing to cover for me a little bit.”
He looks around the room. “So where is your famously ruthless husband, anyway? I assume he’s pretty pissed about the whole jailbreak attempt.”
“I wasn’t in jail.”
“Weren’t you?” His eyebrows raise. “I watched Mass kill a man and marry you while still covered in blood. From my perspective, he insulted the five families and kidnapped you right in front of us.”
“I know, and I think that’s a big reason why I’m here.” I rub my hands together and shiver. “I begged Mass to send me instead of his soldiers. I told him you’d be reasonable.”
“Reasonable how?”
“First, I need to know something.” I blow on my hands and lean toward him. “Why Medved?”
His face tightens. He stares at me, calculating. My oldest brother has always been the more cautious of the two. That’s probably why he has a safe house only he and I know about and why he’s most likely going to inherit control of the Russo family operations. Being the firstborn isn’t always a guarantee.
“Medved came to me around the time Mass took you. He told me that you were being held against your will, but he knew a way to get you out. All I had to do was help. He provided me with funding, information, and a connection to his insider. I put together the operation from there.”
“It would’ve worked if I hadn’t realized what was going on.”
“Why did you run?”
“Because Medved’s the real enemy here.”
Gabe’s face twitches slightly as he fights to hide his real feelings. I’ve seen that look before a dozen times, mostly when he’s doing his best not to show me how much he disapproves of something I’ve done.