Total pages in book: 80
Estimated words: 79261 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 396(@200wpm)___ 317(@250wpm)___ 264(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 79261 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 396(@200wpm)___ 317(@250wpm)___ 264(@300wpm)
“I can’t believe you thought I wouldn’t find you.”
“It’s not that I didn’t think you wouldn’t find me, Luke. It’s that I thought you wouldn’t bother to look.”
I tried to understand her reasoning, but I battled with it. I wanted to believe she knew how much she meant to me.
“You took a bullet for me. A bullet that my father had aimed toward me. A bullet that would have hit me had you not moved me out of the way… he’s never used me like that before. Never risked my life like that to get to an enemy.”
Unable to hold back, I argued, “He risks your life every time he leaves you alone with one of them.”
I didn’t know what else to say or where to even begin.
This wasn’t how I thought things would turn out. Maybe that was my first mistake. I’d been involved with this world for over two decades—to expect the unexpected was part of the thrill.
But at that moment, I didn’t feel anything but the inevitable consequences of my devious actions.
I hated myself for the man I turned into.
For the monster I became.
All my life, I thought I was supposed to be this way… that I was a Jameson. That it was in my blood to be a criminal. It wasn’t a blessing.
It was a curse.
I failed.
I lost.
I was done.
At the end of all this, all I could do was make it right…
Even if it might cost me my life.
When she exclaimed, “You’re not the first man to fall for me, Luke,” I grimaced again. Her words felt like fire against my already burning skin until she unexpectedly added…“You’re just the first man to make me fall for you, too.
CHAPTER
THIRTY-THREE
SLOAN
I could see he wanted to believe me, but he was fighting with my betrayal, and I couldn’t blame him for it. I did betray him in the worst way, and I had to live with that now. I didn’t know where things would go from here.
However, it felt damn good to get that all off my chest. I’d never told anyone who I was or what’d been going on because I had no one I could turn to, and I had expected that sad fate a long time ago. Not a day went by when I didn’t think about my mother. She was never far from my mind.
I dreamed about her often. She used to sing to us in bed. She had the most beautiful voice. My brothers used to come into my room, and she’d always open her arms to make room for them on my bed. Those were some of my best memories. I missed her so much. Living a life without her was as painful as living one with my father.
He still hadn’t said a word, and I was worried I couldn’t get through to him no matter what I confessed.
“I’m sorry, Luke. There’s nothing I can do to make this right by you. You may not forget, but I hope in time you’ll be able to at least forgive me.”
He opened his mouth to reply, but his phone rang, cutting him off.
Without looking at the screen, he answered, “Yeah.”
“Luke Jameson…”
The hair on my arms stood at attention when I heard my father’s eerie voice on the other end of the call.
“You have something that belongs to me, and I don’t take kindly to those who steal my precious belongings.”
“Fuck you,” he snapped, making me jump off his lap.
“Is that any way to talk to the man who knows where your brother sleeps?”
I snatched the phone out of his hand, impulsively blurting, “You won’t touch a hair on his head if you don’t want to spend the rest of your life in prison. You know what they do to men like you in prison, right? I’m just saying.” Throwing his own words back at him, I mocked, “They don’t take too kindly to men who’ve pimped out their daughters since she was eleven years old.”
“Well, well, well… just look at the bad example Jameson has been on you, but don’t worry, I have no problem teaching you some more goddamn manners. How about I use a coffin instead of a cage next time?”
Not allowing him the pleasure to think he won, I spit fire, “What if I tell you I’ve been stealing evidence to pin you to an endless number of crimes in the name of your drugs and trafficking?”
An immediate shocked expression swept across Luke’s handsome face.
“You’re lying,” he responded in a hard-edge tone.
“Am I? I’m a Del Toro after all. You don’t think I’ve learned a thing or two. Especially when you love to keep me with your slaves. You don’t think I learned some names? Come on,” I baited. “You’re smarter than that, Papi. Every time you hit me, broke a bone, left a bruise… you don’t think I took pictures? I’d be stupid not to, and you’re always telling me I’m not a stupid girl. Did I make you proud, Daddy?”