Total pages in book: 99
Estimated words: 94720 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 474(@200wpm)___ 379(@250wpm)___ 316(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 94720 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 474(@200wpm)___ 379(@250wpm)___ 316(@300wpm)
“A creep?” He laughed. “How am I a creep?”
“Because you’re too old for her.”
“Thirty-six isn’t old.”
“It’s too old for her.” I glared at him again, then looked back at Lenora. “I knew I should’ve told her to cover up a little. Dom’s not going to be happy when he sees this spectacle.”
“Yeah, I’m sure Dominic, who’s at the bar having a drink with Rosie, is the reason you want her to cover up.” He scoffed.
“Stop looking at her,” I snapped when I found him still watching her.
“Alright. Jesus.” He laughed, shaking his head. “Isn’t she engaged to be married to a thirty-six-year-old?”
“Yeah. So?”
“I’m just saying. I’m not too old.” He hid his smile behind his glass.
“Do you want to start a fight?” I asked, knowing he was baiting me but unable to stop myself from reacting. “Is that why you’re doing this?”
“Nope, but I am enjoying your discomfort.” He grinned. “You can’t blame me. You’re either all business or all jokes, never anything in between. Never this. You never gave a shit what Crystal wore.”
My lips twisted. I wanted to argue or tell him that I wasn’t a misogynistic, sexist pig, unlike some of these guys, but I couldn’t. I couldn’t because that was exactly how I was acting about Lenora. I thought I didn’t care if anyone looked as long as they didn’t touch her, but seeing how Nico and Mattia crowded her space and how she threw her head back and laughed each time they said something, made me see red. Suddenly, I had the urge to run up there, hoist her over my shoulder, and get her the fuck out of there. As if she felt my gaze, she lifted her eyes and met mine. Even from here, despite the low lights and people between us, I saw her inhale deeply, and fuck, I felt it heavy on my chest.
“It’s nothing.” I turned back around.
“Nothing.” He chuckled. “Welcome to hell, little brother.”
I wondered if he was talking about the new woman he’d met or Elizabeth. Either way, he was one of two people who could see right through me, and he’d done it in two minutes. Dominic was the other, and that was the one I worried about.
9
LENORA
“You look beautiful as always,” Adriano said, lifting my left hand and kissing it. I wasn’t sure if he was talking to me or the rock on my finger since that was where his eyes were.
“Thank you. I wanted to speak to you,” I said quietly.
“In private?”
“Preferably.”
He grabbed my hand and led me across the room where fewer people were. He turned his back to everyone else — a stance the men in these events took so that people wouldn’t interrupt them. It was like wearing headphones in public, a universal sign not to be spoken to. That move made me realize that Adriano was as much a part of La Cosa Nostra as the rest. He may hide behind a title, but he was definitely in this life. I took a deep breath and looked at him. I’d decided I needed to speak to him about this, and honesty was the best policy.
“Can we delay the wedding?”
He arched an eyebrow. “Again?”
“Only another year.”
“Year?” he asked, eyes wide. “I can’t. I need to marry. I need you to have my children to secure the future of my estates, my land.”
My jaw dropped. “I’m not going to have children right away.”
“Did you not read the contract?” His smile was slow, but where it was usually kind or at least placating, this one was off. It sent a shiver down my spine. “You will have one child in our first year of marriage. Another, the second or third — I’ll give you the option. Don’t worry. You will get one million dollars for each child.”
Don’t worry? I brought a hand up to my neck to loosen the invisible noose. I was sure another woman would have been happy about that arrangement, but the cost was too high. I knew this marriage had nothing to do with me, but it didn’t make me feel less sick to know they’d discussed this at length with lawyers present. I knew this happened back in the day, but we’d come so far. Stupidly, I thought we were past the times when a group of men got together and discussed what a woman could and couldn’t do with her body. A child with Adriano? Two children? My stomach felt utterly hollow. I lowered my hand from my throat.
“Will I be able to bring my horse?” I asked.
“From America?” he asked. I nodded. He shook his head once. “No. I’ll get you a new horse if you want a horse.”
“I already have one,” I said quietly. “It’ll help if she’s there. She’ll help make me feel less alone.”
“No.” Adriano’s eyes pierced mine. They were such a dark shade of brown that they almost looked black. “You will have servants and children and make friends with the women in my world. You will never be alone.”