Total pages in book: 95
Estimated words: 90252 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 451(@200wpm)___ 361(@250wpm)___ 301(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 90252 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 451(@200wpm)___ 361(@250wpm)___ 301(@300wpm)
I swallow hard and begin. “A long time ago my name was Max Luciano.”
Even with the engine noise and the slight hum in the headset, I can hear her gasp.
“That’s why you’re so familiar! You’re the cunning capo, the witty wise guy, the—“
“Yeah.” I shrug. “I was. But then I got into some trouble with—“
“The Davincis! I did a story on the whole affair when you disappeared. I mean, it was just in my notebook I kept by my bed before I started a blog, but I knew you weren’t dead! I just had a feeling. Like, oh my God.” She jumps up and down in her seat as much as she can while she’s strapped in. “You’re the missing mobster.”
“So you know all about me, then. You know I’m not a good guy.” It’s an odd sort of relief—I don’t have to tell her all my sins because she already knows most of them.
Her eyes are wide when I meet her gaze again. “The Campanellis—was that you?”
“The brothers?” My mouth goes dry. Where the hell did she find out about that? “Yeah. It was me.”
“I knew it!” she crows. “Why did you kill them, and where are the bodies?”
“They were trafficking children, and”—I smirk—“I’ll never tell.”
“Oh my God!” She jumps up and down again, making the small craft shimmy just a little. “See? I was right. I drew this huge web in my notebook with all the mafia happenings around you in the years before you disappeared, because I was trying to crack the case. I knew you were good for the Campanelli disappearances, though I didn’t know why. And then you pissed off the Davincis.”
“Yeah.” I rub my jaw at that. “If Nick realizes I still draw breath, I’m toast.” I give her a meaningful look.
Her mouth drops open. “That’s why you’ve been keeping all this from me? You thought I’d rat you out?”
“Well, I thought you might want to break the story that—”
“Are you kidding?” She throws her hands up. “I would never rat you out! Don’t you know I love you?” she yells.
I’m shell-shocked for only a moment, then I release my harness, lean over, and kiss the ever-loving shit out of my woman. “I love you, too, Red. I love you so much.”
At that moment, I don’t need the fucking plane anymore, I could fly to LA with her in my arms with nothing more than the love she’s put in my heart.
13
DAPHNE
He loves me. It’s all I’ve been able to think about since Tiernan said those words. When the doors to the panic room opened to reveal Tiernan, I’d jumped into his arms. How did I ever think I could run from him? It was a stupid idea. I think I was subconsciously testing Tiernan, because I didn't want to say my feelings out loud. I wanted to see what would happen if I left. If he would track me down and demand I come back. I hadn't gotten very far.
A smile pulls at my lips over the fact I was somewhat obsessed with the story of Max Luciano when all this time it was Tiernan. It makes me believe in soul mates. That on some level my soul knew this man was important to me. So much so that I’d dug up crap on him for a year, writing down every bit of evidence and conjecture in my journal.
“Darling?” My head jerks up, and I see my mom standing over me with a mug in her hand. “I know that look. You’re in love.”
I take the mug from her. “Yeah.” I sip the hot chocolate. It’s my favorite. She makes them every night before bed. It’s actually the one thing we always did together before I moved out. I’d cherished that little sliver of time we’d spend together. She’d make the drinks, and we’d sit in the living room drinking it while I read or played on my phone while she checked over her emails one last time before calling it a night.
“He’s a dangerous man, but I’m not one to judge. I married a dangerous man myself.”
I bark out a laugh at the thought of my dad being dangerous. But the look on her face tells me she’s not joking.
“I guess you’re right.” I never thought about my dad being some sort of troublemaker, but I guess he is in his own way. He started as a hacker, and he wasn’t exactly doing things on the up and up. I don’t think of Tiernan as being dangerous either, but I know he is. I’m sure in the last 24 hours and possibly right now while I sip on this hot chocolate, that he is most likely out there killing someone. Yet that thought doesn’t scare me in the least because I know he’s doing it to protect me.