Total pages in book: 58
Estimated words: 56771 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 284(@200wpm)___ 227(@250wpm)___ 189(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 56771 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 284(@200wpm)___ 227(@250wpm)___ 189(@300wpm)
“I need to use the bathroom,” Rosa says. “Do you mind?”
Her shame at the kidnapping is so severe she’s asking my permission to pee. I can’t handle this guilt. It’s tight and clawing at the base of my throat like a killer’s grip.
“Of course not.”
She leaves. A minute later, Dario returns, whiskey in hand, a tray held casually in the other with our sodas. He leans over to place the tray on the table, offering a shaky smile.
“I’m not much of a waiter.”
He retreats to his place at the wall. It’s like his instinct to stand there, scanning the wall, watching the exits. Every time he looks at me, his expression tightens.
“Where’s Leo?” I ask.
More tightening, more giving himself away.
“He’s talking to the chef.”
“Long conversation.”
Dario winces, then covers it with a smirk. He’s got shades of Leo in him but with more boyishness. He’s not as mature as my man, more like exactly what he is. He must be the second-in-command, the loyal lion at the alpha’s side.
“Dario,” I say.
Nerves try to stop me, but I have to know. It’s not because I don’t have to ask those dream questions if Dario confirms it. It’s not because there are shades of paranoia in me still. It’s because I have to ensure he doesn’t tell his niece. Or is it a bit of both?
“Yes?”
“Do you… know something?”
Dario glances at the door, then at me. He nods quickly.
“Ah.”
“No judgment,” he says quietly. “In fact, I’m happy for you.”
“You are?”
“Or I would be if it wasn’t for Rosa.”
I can’t reply. Rosa walks into the room, adjusting her hair. She’s doing that a lot lately, as if constantly on the edge. She’d fall over if I pushed her, shoved her with the truth.
“Why are my ears burning?”
Dario sighs. “I’m not always talking about you, dear niece.”
“Where’s Dad?” Rosa asks, sitting and picking up her glass of soda.
“Talking with the chef.”
“Long conversation.”
Dario and I smile reflexively.
“I feel like I’m missing something,” Rosa says.
“That’s what I said, long conversation. That’s all.”
“Well, it is.” Rosa grins and sips her soda. “I’m so happy we’re all together. We can forget, can’t we, Uncle Dee? Just for a little while? About all the ugliness?”
Dario stares at her with a hint of coldness. I imagine him thinking, I just put a bullet in a man’s head for you, and you want to forget. Then the uncle in him takes over, and he grins. “Yes, we can. We should.”
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Leo
“She knows I know.”
Dario walks into my bedroom. It’s like we’re teenagers, at least like I’m a teenager. Dario didn’t get to experience regular life after Mom and Dad died. He was thrown right into the Family. Maybe that’s why he’s hard edges all over.
“How?” I ask.
“What are you doing in here?” Dario retorts, looking around the room.
I try to laugh, but it becomes more of a shaky growling noise. I’m desperately holding onto the animal inside me, the baby-making monster intent on impregnating my Emma, especially when I saw her in that dress. It’s pale green, showing a tempting glimpse of her cleavage and even more of her sweet, thick thighs. Her hair is styled, and a light layer of makeup brings out her natural beauty. Her lips are rouged just a little, enough to draw out her natural vivaciousness—her hips, breasts, smile, and soul.
“Avoiding us?” Dario goes on when I don’t say anything.
“Just one of you. How does she know?”
“She must’ve seen the way I was looking at her. I’m not sure. She seems like an intelligent person. Shrewd. You know when you’re talking to a man, making a deal, and you can just tell? That’s how it felt talking to her.”
I think back to the scene before the rooftop, before the kiss, when Emma gave her opinion on Matvei. “I get the same feeling.”
“You can’t hide here all night,” Dario says. “You’ll just have to act normal or tell Rosa.”
“I can’t tell her here. Can’t tell her now.”
“Then suck it up. Rosa wants a nice dinner with her dad and her friend.”
“And her uncle.”
“So make it happen. I saw you snap a man’s wrist like it was nothing. Saved my ass, and not for the first time.”
“You’ve saved me plenty too.”
He claps me on the shoulder. “What are you afraid of?”
I swallow. “The truth?”
“Always.”
“That I’ll lose control. I’ll keep it together for a little while, but then the thoughts will start, the hunger, the obsession. I won’t be able to stop it. I’ll kiss her in front of Rosa. I’ll blurt something out. Tell her she belongs to me, something like that, right in front of my daughter.”
“Do you think you’d do that?” he asks, genuinely shocked.
I laugh grimly. “I think I might.”
“You love her.”
Taking a step back, I mean to shake my head. Surely it’s too soon for that, but I nod reflexively.