Total pages in book: 29
Estimated words: 27743 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 139(@200wpm)___ 111(@250wpm)___ 92(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 27743 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 139(@200wpm)___ 111(@250wpm)___ 92(@300wpm)
“Damn, I hope I don’t ever become that paranoid.” He’s not talking about the shooting. He’s talking about men fighting over his sister. My sisters are beautiful and I’m sure that there will be boys flirting and I’ll have to bust some heads later, but they’re still pretty young.
“After tonight, you should understand why I’m this fucking nuts.”
“I suppose so. Let’s just say I hope I never have a reason to lose my shit like you do.” Gio doesn’t like to be bothered, and for his sake, I hope he finds someone who bothers the hell out of him because life isn’t worth living until you find someone who gives you that excitement.
“Thanks.”
“No problem. Anything for my little sister.” We shake hands, and he pulls me in for a brotherly hug. He’s been one of my many brains in the family. Unlike the others, he’s not a fighter. Getting his hands dirty isn’t something he likes, but when he has to get down, he’s like his dad. Quiet and dangerous.
I head downstairs and find my parents sitting around with several other family heads including Enrico and June along with the Dom Bianchi, his wife, and son.
“We need to get this handled.”
“Understood.”
“Where’s Vivian?” her father asks, glaring at me. What can I say? What happened today would have happened tomorrow, so it’s not that fucking big of a deal. He knew it was an eventuality the second I got her alone. For all he knew I banged his baby girl earlier.
“Sleeping.”
A peace seems to come over him. “Good. This wasn’t how her birthday was supposed to be.”
“No, but remember, this was how our wedding ended, being Dom?” Mrs. Bianchi says.
He gives her a half smile. It probably means something to them, but this can’t be celebrated. “Yes, amore. I do remember. It’s been many years, my queen, but yes. We managed to rise out of the ashes and destroy everyone in our path, but tonight is different.”
“How so?” I ask.
“Our family was here tonight, and they knew it. This wasn’t just a strike on the Contis; this was a strike on all of us. They thought they could kill several birds with one big-ass bomb. If it wasn’t for that sneaky-ass future wife of yours, we wouldn’t have been any the wiser.” Dom had a point that they were also targeted, so this was their fight as well.
“What does Vivian have to do with this?”
“When you went looking for her, I went around to check her usual escape routes. That’s when we caught them in the act of sneaking in,” Enrico says.
“If you hadn’t gone to get her when you did…” June says.
“I don’t want to even think about it.” Dom’s wife shakes her head and holds her husband’s hand.
“We knocked out two dozen of their men tonight and destroyed their bombs, but that’s not all they had, so we know we’re not out of the woods just yet. We only had four injuries and two deaths from Neo’s betrayal, thanks to the surprise we gave them. Not to mention Neo’s death. That wife of yours is going to be an asset. It’s a shame she’s marrying you when I have other sons and nephews,” Dom adds with a smile.
“You won’t if they approach my bride,” I snarl, standing up out my chair.
Dom puts his hands up in surrender. “Good man. I understand what your wife means to you.”
My father puts his hand on my good shoulder and I sit down. “Well, we can just toss Santos into this and claim they took him out,” my father added.
“That could work should his family have questions, but I’m not worried about it.”
“Vivian filled me in a little. She said our guy betrayed us because I didn’t fall for his sister, which caused his wife to leave him. They said I was a pussy and would be easy to overthrow now that you handed over the Family to me. I don’t know who his sister-in-law was, but the bitch is about to catch a knife from Vivian for sure.”
“Do you remember the party we attended a few months back? There was a woman who kept flirting with you. You told her to back off and that you were spoken for and if she didn’t, she’d find herself at the bottom of the Chicago River.”
“Oh, yeah. Do you think that’s her? Most women aren’t stupid enough to approach me, so I guess that would make sense. Still, I don’t remember her and couldn’t point her out.”
“That’s because you didn’t even notice her. She was beautiful and very put out,” Marco says.
I shrug. “No one fucking matters but my viper, so I wouldn’t have noticed.”
“That’s really fucking good,” a hiss comes from behind me.
“Come sit down, little devil. You were supposed to be sleeping.”
“I want heads to roll.” She sits on my lap, wearing a tank top that only makes her look hot as hell, and a pair of sweats that hug her ass. She’s got her blade in hand ready to gut a motherfucker, and that makes me hard as hell.