Total pages in book: 97
Estimated words: 93048 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 465(@200wpm)___ 372(@250wpm)___ 310(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 93048 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 465(@200wpm)___ 372(@250wpm)___ 310(@300wpm)
“Ronan, everyone saw you choose me over someone in your own family. You know that’s bad.”
His eyebrows narrow only slightly. “Everyone saw one of my men shove over a woman.”
“Come on, that’s not how they’ll interpret it. I’ve been the enemy for a while already, and when the Matteo job went bad earlier tonight, they all blame me for it.”
“No, not everyone.”
“Don’t lie to me. I’m not blind.”
He comes toward me. Only a few steps, but there’s a menace in him. My arrogant, cocky Ronan, with his smirks and his jokes, he’s gone right now, replaced by Ronan the boss of his dangerous criminal organization. A thrill runs into my core, and I’ve never been more attracted to him before, but I also know that doesn’t matter. It’s selfish to want him right now. Even if I do.
“Some of the cousins blame you. But the ones who matter know what happened, and there’s a lot of talk about how Julien’s group even found out about our plans. Yes, some of them blame you, but that’s only secondary to the real problem. Someone talked.”
Anger plays across his expression. His lips tighten. His eyes narrow. I want to get up and go to him, put my hands on his chest, feel his heartbeat, kiss him and try to comfort him, but that won’t help. That’s a short-term solution, and I have to think about the future now.
“You’re right, someone talked, but why would someone betray your family like that? Because they’re unhappy, and I’m a big reason.”
“They were unhappy before you, love. I brought you in because of your skills, and you haven’t disappointed.”
“Except for tonight.”
“No.” His voice is firm and commanding. “Tonight was not your fault. The plan was perfect. I was there. If it hadn’t been for Julien’s surprise, it would’ve gone down exactly like you said it would.”
I want to hold onto that. He’s probably right—I never could’ve foreseen Julien getting involved in this job—but it doesn’t matter, not really. He’s thinking about how to salvage this loss, and I’m thinking about the long-term cohesion of his entire family.
“I should still move out.” I stand up from the couch and move around it. “More people are going to find out that I’ve been staying with you eventually. You can’t hide it forever. When they realize, what do you think they’ll say? You’ve been lying to them, hiding your relationship with me. It’ll confirm all their worst suspicions.”
“Which are what?” he asks, tone carefully under control.
“That we’re sleeping together.”
“We are.” He steps forward. “And what’s wrong with that?”
“I’m Italian. I’m the daughter of a former crime boss. I’m a disgraced nobody. You should be with a nice Irish girl, someone that’ll help your family instead of dragging you down with a bunch of baggage.”
“I don’t want that.”
“You’re the boss. Sometimes, it doesn’t matter what you want.”
He steps toward me again. I back away, heart racing, hands clammy. I hate this, hate it so much, but I’m doing the hard thing for him.
“I’ve given everything to the family,” he says, calm and measured. “I will keep giving everything until my dying breath. But I will not let stupid prejudices dictate who I sleep with.”
“Everything’s just too volatile. Maybe we can keep working together, but if I’m here—”
“No, love. I’m not letting you go.”
“Ronan.” I move toward the door. “We don’t have to make this a big deal.”
“You blame yourself for what happened.” He follows after me, but at a distance. “You blame yourself for the faults in my family. Maybe you’ve been blaming yourself ever since your father died, but I’m not going to feed into that delusion. It isn’t your fault, Valentina. None of it is your fault. None of it ever was.”
I stare at him. My pulse hammers in my chest. Tears lodge in my throat. I hate him for saying that, and I hate that he’s right. I’ve been mourning my father’s loss, and a part of me always thought it should’ve been me killed instead of him, but that makes no sense. I was always just his daughter, just a girl on the periphery—he was the Don, the powerful Santoro Don, and he understood the risks he was taking.
I still hate that I’m here while everything I ever loved has fallen to pieces.
“I can’t let it happen to you. I lost my family, but I refuse to be the reason this one falls apart too.”
He stares at me, and all at once, he seems to calm down. His shoulders relax and his jaw softens, and his eyes take on that amused sparkle they normally have. It breaks my stinking heart to see his smirk return.
“All right, love, you do what you have to do.”
My mouth opens to argue—but I stop myself. “Really?”
“Sure, love, if that’s what you want, but I’m still not going to let you go.”