Total pages in book: 105
Estimated words: 103124 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 516(@200wpm)___ 412(@250wpm)___ 344(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 103124 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 516(@200wpm)___ 412(@250wpm)___ 344(@300wpm)
But he’s going to have to do more than that to stop this barreling train. It has ten years of hatred fueling it.
Ignoring his threats, I twist the ring on my pinky finger and offer him a look of indifference. “I can make all your troubles disappear, Vincent, just like that.” I snap my fingers. “All you have to do is give me your daughter.”
“Never,” he seethes.
“Are you sure about that? Think about it. Everything you have worked hard for, everything you escaped Italy to build will be gone. But I’m offering you an out.”
“For the price of my daughter.”
“Arranged marriages are not new in our world.”
That’s not a lie. In fact, they’re more common than not, especially for his generation. I’m surprised he hasn’t already ensured that Bella will marry well. But then again, if watching Bella for the past few months has taught me anything, it’s that she is still a fierce heart and won’t easily be forced to do something she doesn’t want to do.
Her learning about this bomb will be an enjoyable experience to watch.
“She will be well taken care of,” I add. “She will be under my protection and want for nothing.”
By the expression on Vincent’s face and the sag of his shoulders, I know I’m wearing him down. He’s cornered, and inside his thick skull, he’s scrambling to come up with another way out of the mess he’s in. But there is no other way out.
“What was the point of all of this?” he asks.
Finally, an interesting question.
“You fucked with me and my family.”
“Because I took Bella away from all the bloodshed and pain?”
“No, because you helped destroy my mother.” The truth curdles in my chest. “The De Kysa and the Isle Ciccula have been sworn enemies since the night my mother died, and you escaped to America with Bella. It should come as no surprise that the moment I took the crown from my father, I would come looking for revenge.”
“You know nothing of that night,” he spits.
“I know my mother died, and you left. It doesn’t take a genius to work out one event gave birth to the other.”
His face is as cold as ice, a stark contrast to the hatred burning like wildfire in his eyes.
“You don’t know shit,” he mutters.
I slam my palm down, and the desk rattles beneath it. “I know that it changed everything. And now I am here for retribution.”
“Retribution for taking my daughter away from you?” He scoffs and shakes his head.
“No, it goes much deeper than that.” I drag my finger along the edge of his desk as I move around it to stand behind him. “You need to pay for everything that happened.”
“Then why go to all this trouble for revenge when you could just kill me?”
“You’re right. I could kill you and then just take Bella and force her to marry me.”
“Then that is what you will have to do. Because I will never give you my consent.”
I stand behind him, savoring the moment as I stare down at his sagging shoulders.
“Hmm. I don’t think so. That’d be too easy for you and less satisfying for me. You see, I want you alive and kicking so you can see me take everything from you.” I lean down to whisper in his ear. “And I want you to know what it feels like to lose her.”
6
Bella
“You’re both insane if you think I’ll agree to this.”
I look at my father and then at my godfather, Alberto, disgusted by the suggestion. We’re sitting in a leather booth at my father’s popular restaurant on West 44th Street. His birthday dinner is over and we are alone.
All evening, I knew something wasn’t right. But he downplayed his sullen mood until about two minutes ago when he confessed about the meeting with Domenico De Kysa.
A heavy knot tightens in my chest.
Why the hell does Domenico De Kysa want me to be his wife?
What does he stand to get out of this ridiculous arrangement?
I assume it’s to gloat about the delirious power he has over my family.
I can tell there’s more bad news coming. Something my father is struggling to tell me. “He has us at a disadvantage, Bella. He’s in a position to take everything we’ve worked so hard for.”
“What do you mean? How could he possibly do that?”
My father’s jaw clenches. “A while back, I was presented with a business deal. I stood to make a lot of money. But to make a lot of money, sometimes you need to borrow a lot of money.”
A tingling sensation crawls into my gut. “You borrowed money?”
He nods, and going by the grave look on his face, I know it must be a lot.
“How much?” I ask, feeling sick.
“Two hundred million.”
The number hits me like a bomb going off in the room.