Total pages in book: 133
Estimated words: 128290 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 641(@200wpm)___ 513(@250wpm)___ 428(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 128290 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 641(@200wpm)___ 513(@250wpm)___ 428(@300wpm)
I do look over this time, the look of horror that reshapes Torin’s face is as amusing as it is disappointing.
It’s as I said, to touch another’s wife is a death sentence.
A literal rule, written out and all.
Torin’s nostrils flare, eyes snapping across the space, taking in all the people rallying around, and even to my own eyes, it’s unclear who would stand with whom, if it came down to it.
Bandoni is a founding family member and part of the union, after all.
Enzo isn’t.
I see the moment Torin makes a decision, and I steel my spine as I wait to learn what it is.
He creeps, more like hobbles, closer, and unease washes over me. “You think I don’t know your secret?” he hisses, attempting to keep his voice low. “I do, and it will make all of this go away when the others learn what you’ve been hiding. Or should I say…who.”
I stiffen despite my best efforts, slowly, as secretly as possible, moving my finger to the trigger of my weapon. He knows of Katana.
He knows Enzo is hiding the girl they’ve searched over a decade for.
It might be my husband whose blood fills these drains today after all.
I can’t let that happen.
A warm hand presses to the back of mine in that moment and I take a deep breath.
He doesn’t want me to shoot.
But what he doesn’t seem to understand is that I’ll have to.
If he threatens the life of my husband, he has to die.
He will die, consequences be damned.
But then Enzo chuckles, so low and dark a chill licks down my spine.
The sound makes Torin feel unsettled, a small frown making the wrinkles along his temples deepen, and my mind begins to swim, trying to connect the dots I didn’t see.
Enzo takes small steps closer to the man I’ve known my entire life and gets right into his face. “Okay, Bandoni. We will do this your way. Let’s see whose secret does the most damage, shall we?”
Enzo lifts his hand in the air, flicking two fingers, and when I turn, I watch as Damiano silently helps Katana from the car.
I jerk forward, eyes wide, but Mino catches me around the waist, whispering in my ear. “Not yet, tiny dancer.”
My lips tremble and press into a firm line as I glance back at Enzo.
“Tell me, Torin.” He cocks his head. “Did you use the same satellite to hide my wife’s location today as you did when helping get his out?”
My mind swirls, but then movement to my left catches my attention.
My eyes move to Katana as she reaches my side, her entire body trembling as she waits to find out what’s about to happen, having no idea her identity is about to be exposed, flipping her already fragile existence on its axis. She’ll be seen for what she is, weak. While she is slowly getting stronger, mentally and physically, she is in no shape to lead. She’ll need more time, and they won’t give it to her.
The eastern seat will be vacated.
Families will fight and wars will begin until one person takes that top spot.
If the men of our world don’t rally and overthrow the Greyson girls as a whole, erasing everything my sister and the girls have spent their lives training for.
She doesn’t deserve that.
She is the chosen, and I know what it feels like not to be enough.
I won’t allow that to happen to her.
Reaching over, I take her hand, and she threads her fingers through mine, her grip firm and trembling.
“You have no proof,” is hissed, and my attention snaps back to Torin.
Proof. Proof of what?
Wait.
Satellite.
Hiding someone’s wife.
“Holy shit,” I breathe, and his eyes snap to mine. “It was you.”
Torin’s face falls. His eyes moving to Katana for the first time and back to Enzo. “We can come to an arrangement.”
“Arrangement. Sure. Here it is. You tell my secret first and I reveal yours second, just in time for our new audience.”
I glance around, finding the other members of the union have been called in, all the founding families’ leaders standing off to the side with their respective guards.
Shit. Twisting slightly, I look up over my shoulder at Mino.
He meets my stare with an unflinching gaze, but his body is stiff at my back, so I know he’s not as calm as he wants everyone to believe.
“Mino,” I whisper, unable to hide the worry from my voice.
“Still not yet, baby.” He presses his chin against my temple in reassurance and I force myself to face forward.
Enzo’s expression is dark, and he stands tall, his jaw sharp and eyes piercing as he shouts across the space. “Torin and I have something to share and he’s going to go first.”
I tug mine and Katana’s joined hands up between us and she huddles closer, shaking even harder now.
Torin pales, his face falling as he spins to face the others. He hesitates a moment, and then his mouth snaps open and takes in a sharp breath as the truth begins to tumble from his lips.