Total pages in book: 97
Estimated words: 92071 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 460(@200wpm)___ 368(@250wpm)___ 307(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 92071 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 460(@200wpm)___ 368(@250wpm)___ 307(@300wpm)
I couldn’t look him in the eyes. He was absolutely right, and all I could do was lower my head and watch as my tears fell onto the rug.
“Zola,” he called.
“Yeah,” I mumbled without looking up.
“I don’t hate you. I’m mad at what you did for sure, but it's impossible for me to hate you. We’ll get through this together, okay?”
I nodded slowly.
These words coming from him meant the entire world to me and I wanted him to know that, but I couldn’t find a way.
“Thanks for the food and make sure you get something to eat as well.”
“I will,” I nodded, wishing he would call me over to hug me, but there was no such invitation forthcoming, so I returned with a heavy heart to my bedroom.
Chapter 68
Dante
Ismiled when she left. Contrite Zola was starting to become one of my favorite versions of her.
Although, I was certain it wouldn’t last long. She was sure to snap sooner and return to her stubborn minx version, which I had to admit I secretly loved.
In the meantime, it was time for me to get a report about how the world had collapsed around me in my absence. I called Giotto into the room and moved over to the coffee table to eat the soup Zola had brought. I couldn’t help smiling as I began to eat. She went all the way downstairs with her sore body just to get me a meal in an attempt to make up for her mistake. I wondered what she would do next to try to show me how sorry she was.
Giotto took his seat opposite me. “Did we lose anyone?”
He shook his head.
I let out a deep sigh of relief.
“Andrea got hit in the thigh, but he’ll be fine?”
The fact that we hadn’t lost anyone was nothing short of a miracle. Even me sitting here eating was nothing short of a miracle.
“Tell me everything that has happened since last night,” I instructed.
“Surprisingly there was little to no mention of the accident and although a few videos did surface online, none of the major news channels carried it. It’s just on social media and since no one is really talking about it, it’ll die down in a few days without any explanation whatsoever.”
I frowned slightly and wondered why a gang shootout in the middle of one of the major intersections in the city was not getting more coverage.
Giotto shrugged. “Ugo might have more of the press under his control than we suspected.”
“It appears we have a rat in our midst,” I said. “And until we bring him to light, he will always be one step ahead of us.”
“Do you have any suspects, Boss? I thought it might be Tommy,” Giotto said.
“To me, that didn’t make much sense, but there is one other explanation.”
We shared a gaze and he instantly understood who I was referring to.
“Detective Hudgens,” he said.
That was the name I’d been thinking of too.
“He has the means and given the way this news is being suppressed I think that your guess is right. It all points to him.”
“It should be surprising, but somehow, I’m not surprised at all. Hudgens has made a deal with both the angels and devils of this industry and as far as I know, he’s the only one who would have had the reach to pull this off. Or maybe it’s someone even higher and he’s working for them, but whatever it is the trail will take too long to uncover. And along with it are many pitfalls.”
Giotto nodded in agreement. There was nothing else to discuss so he turned around and left me to my thoughts.
They ran rampant in my mind. Whatever trail we wanted to follow would take time to uncover. And we didn’t have time. Or rather, I didn’t want to spend my precious time pursuing it, but we couldn’t just look away. The soup and the painkiller had done their job, and I went in search of Zola.
“She’s in the gazebo,” Marie told me when I painfully made it down to the kitchen.
“I’m so happy to see you walking again. I was so worried last night.” Tears were glistening in her eyes, and I could tell she had been incredibly worried about me.
“Thank you,” I said and began to stroll slowly across the yard.
From a distance, I saw that she had left the gazebo and was sitting on the edge of the pier with her legs dangling in the water. It was a dangerous place to be seated.
I called out to her and she turned. Getting up, she walked over to me.
“That pier is dangerous,” I said.
She turned to give it a glance. “Is it not stable?”
“I’m not sure,” I replied, “but it’s been in place for years and we haven’t inspected it for safety in a long time so you need to be careful. I would prefer it if you didn’t go that far out at all.”