Total pages in book: 54
Estimated words: 51900 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 260(@200wpm)___ 208(@250wpm)___ 173(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 51900 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 260(@200wpm)___ 208(@250wpm)___ 173(@300wpm)
I’m about to call Tic Tac when Kane appears in the doorway, looking all Latin hotness and holding a bag of chocolate. It pisses me off. I set my phone on the table next to me and stand, angling toward him. “Chocolate will not save you.”
He closes the short space between us and captures my hand, pressing the chocolate into my palm. “You love chocolate.”
“Chocolate will not save you,” I repeat, “or me. What the hell were you thinking, Kane?”
His chin lowers, and he releases my hand, stepping backward while I set the chocolate on the table next to my phone. The battle is on. And we’re not leaving this loft until it’s settled.
Chapter Twenty
That step backward Kane just took doesn’t infuriate me. It destroys me. That fight we had over him walking away to protect me isn’t over, and I’m starting to think it’s one I can’t win.
“So this is how it is between us now, Kane?”
I see understanding flash over his face, and the next thing I know, his hands are firm on my shoulders as he rotates me and plants me against the wall, him in front of me, but he doesn’t exactly cage me. Not if you don’t count his fist planted on the wall on either side of my head, no part of him touching me.
“No to whatever you’re thinking. No. But damn it, Lilah, at any point, any at all, are you going to ask me what I’ve done instead of deciding you already know?” he demands.
“You shut me out. It’s not as if you’ve invited conversation. And at this point, you made a deal with the mob. That’s all I need to know.”
“Is it? Come on, bella. It’s not always that simple, and you know it. You and I, we do what we have to do to survive in a world where most would not. That’s what I did, and damn it, you are the one who lectured me about not letting my father get in my head. You told me to do what I do and take control. I took control. He just doesn’t know it yet, but he damn sure will.”
“And you think getting in bed with the mob was the way to do that?” I challenge. “We’re battling the cartel, the Society, and now the damn mob.”
“We’re not battling any of them. We control them. Through the mob I own my father. Through my father I own the mob. And through you, we’re on our way to the same with the Society.”
“How does this control your father?”
“The mob has rebuilt. They’re well-rooted in every place my father needs to be to make money. My uncle didn’t have the balls to go to war with them. My father does. And the mob hates my father. He’s why they had to rebuild.”
“So you started a war? How do we not get in the middle?”
“I didn’t start a war. I simply told the patriarch of the mob my father is back. They plan to end him before he comes for them.”
“And if they can’t?”
“I will.”
I shake my head. “No. This changes nothing. Again, it leaves you in charge of the cartel.”
“That’s not true. If I kill my father, my role is cemented as his replacement. It’s a claim to leadership, and I swear that bastard is setting me up for that. If the mob kills him and I play savior, staving off a war, it changes the dynamic. Instead of me being forced to take control or watch a battle of the worst human beings I know on this earth battle for control, the mob vows to respect an allegiance to my chosen successor.”
“I really don’t get why this gives you the right to walk away, but it doesn’t matter. The cartel will accept you walking away. You’re sure?”
“Positive.”
“Because it’s about money?”
“It’s always about money.”
“And you couldn’t tell me any of this before you did it, why? No more secrets. Remember? No. No, apparently you don’t remember at all. Maybe it’s just not in your capacity to tell me before you do things. That’s kind of your MO.” I try to duck under his arm.
He blocks me, using his big body as a wall on either side of me and in front. “Are you really going there, Lilah? Back to that night? Because if you are, we have problems deeper than that grave I dug for your attacker. And it was pretty fucking deep.”
“Don’t turn this on me, Kane. I’ll stand with you in the darkest recesses of Hell, but I want to walk into the fire with you, not get dragged. And I will. You have to know that.”
“What do you think I was doing when I buried that body for you? Sending you to Hell by yourself?”
I breathe out emotions I wish were buried with that body. I don’t know how we got back there now, and suddenly weird feelings and bad memories assail me. “I need space.” I try to move again and shove at his chest. “Get off me.”