Total pages in book: 82
Estimated words: 78811 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 394(@200wpm)___ 315(@250wpm)___ 263(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 78811 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 394(@200wpm)___ 315(@250wpm)___ 263(@300wpm)
Bastian rolls his eyes and pours himself a whiskey before topping mine off. He slides into the armchair across from mine.
“Yes, the nanny too. The kid’s five. She’ll keep her calm.” We hammer out a few more details and disconnect the call. I check my watch. “Took you a while. What did you do, tuck her in?”
Bastian snorts, taking a long sip of his whiskey. “I’m not sure about this, brother. She’s trouble.”
“You mean she’s rebellious.”
“That too.”
“We need her.”
“So you keep telling me.”
“What do you propose, Bastian? We gun Lucien Russo down on the street?”
“That’s a pleasing image.”
“But too good for him.” He sips. I know he agrees. “She under your skin?”
He considers this as he swirls the whiskey around in his glass. “Yeah, actually.”
“Nightmares back?”
“I don’t care about those.” But he drains his glass, telling me the opposite of what he says is true. I repour and study my younger brother. “I don’t want her coming between us. I don’t want you losing sight of what we want. What the point of this is.”
“No chance of that. What we did with her tonight? That’s the beginning. She belongs to us. Both of us.”
“Fucking her wasn’t the plan.”
“Well, the plan has evolved. From what I’ve seen, you’re not exactly nauseous at the prospect.”
“That’s the thing. I should be. We both should be, Amadeo. But we’re not. Hannah died alone and in pain. After suffering God knows what at Lucien Russo’s hands. I don’t want us to lose sight of that.”
Getting up, I go to him and place a hand on his shoulder. “We won’t. I swear it.”
He nods, but his face is in shadow. He’s not convinced. I can see that much. Bastian was so much younger than me when it happened. He carries the memory of it, the pain of it, differently.
“We need to see mom before we go to New York.”
“We will. We’ll make sure she’s okay. Make sure Francesca has everything she needs.”
“And tell her the story she needs to feed Sonny.”
I don’t like using my mother that way. She’s innocent, but Sonny takes advantage of her innocence, so I figure this is just me managing that situation. Damage control.
“Are you going to go through with it?” he asks.
“With what?”
“Marrying her.”
“You know I need to in order to have access to the company. It’s how their bylaws are written. No outsider can own any part of Russo Properties & Holdings. But if we’re married, I’m no longer an outsider.” Because bringing Lucien Russo down will happen slowly. From the inside out. We will strip him of every comfort in this life before ending it. It will leave Vittoria penniless too, but penniless is better than dead. And it’s not like I haven’t been upfront with her about what she is. Collateral. But I see this part bothers my brother. “It’s a piece of paper, brother. That’s all.”
“What about the diamonds? What are those?” Fire makes his eyes shine like hot coals in ash. You could always read Bastian’s anger in his eyes. That’s one emotion he can’t hide.
“Those were a game.”
He snorts. “I guess she won that one.” He gets up to go to the window. “I’m going to go for a swim.”
“Use the pool.”
“Where’s the fun in that?” He finishes his drink and crosses the room to the door. “Go check on your fiancée, brother. I’m sure she’s up to something. We should have stripped the room.”
“She’ll behave until the little girl is here. That’s when we’ll need to watch her.”
“Well, maybe you should go give her a kiss good night.” He stops, then considers. “No, don’t. I don’t think kissing her will be a good idea for you.” He must have watched us do it in the restaurant.
“Brother—”
“Good night.”
I watch him go. I don’t like that he swims in the ocean at night. Never have. But he’s a grown man. And he needs to work through his demons in his own way. So I finish my drink and leave the study to walk through the quiet house up the stairs and pause at her door before reaching up to take the key Bastian would have left on the frame and let myself in. I expect to find Vittoria asleep, but she’s standing at the locked French doors. Something about how quickly she spins to face me makes me wonder what she was up to because she looks guilty as sin.
“What’s going on, Dandelion?”
She slips her hands into the pockets of her pajama shorts and shrugs her shoulders. “Nothing. Was that your brother?” She turns to point out the window to the private beach the house accesses.
I cross the room to join her at the locked doors just in time to see Bastian dive under the waves.
“That would be him, yes.”
“He swims in the ocean at night? Isn’t that dangerous?”