Total pages in book: 79
Estimated words: 73250 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 366(@200wpm)___ 293(@250wpm)___ 244(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 73250 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 366(@200wpm)___ 293(@250wpm)___ 244(@300wpm)
My wins were also his.
Our gazes locked as we sipped on high-end champagne.
And, sure, we had a long way to go, but we had to acknowledge how far we’d come.
Whenever I went through a relatively easy stage of my life, I could always count on something to come and mess it up. So, while basking in our temporary bliss, the hairs that stood on the back of my neck never truly calmed. And as predicted, I was soon reminded of why.
I stood at the top of the stairs when I heard them.
Giada was talking low to her brother and I hadn’t meant to eavesdrop, but when I heard what my sister-in-law said, my chest immediately grew tight. “You heard Roam. He wasn’t messing around. She is overstepping again,” she emphasized the word, “and you know better than I do that if she does that with Roam, he’s going to fire a warning shot right into her head. Tor, you have to do something. She’s going to get herself killed.”
My eyes widened as I froze in my tracks.
Who?
“How do you even know about this?” Tor huffed out, aggravated.
Giada kept quiet a moment before she merely said, “Sammy.”
“He should not have told you that,” was my husband’s peeved reply.
“Well, I’m glad he did,” The usually sweet Giada snapped. “What are you going to do about it, Ettore?” Oh damn. She was using his real name. Even I knew that was bad. “What she’s doing is suicide.”
Tor, however, brushed off Giada’s concern with a cool, “How is that my problem?”
“You have to tell her.”
Tor scoffed. “Actually, I don’t.”
Giada took a deep breath before she started anew, “She’s still her sister. There’s still a way out of this. Vittoria needs to know.”
And it clicked.
Oh.
And my entire body slumped in awareness.
Oh.
Tor lowered his voice as he went off on a tangent. “No, G. She’s happy. Do you get that? She’s finally happy. And between my fuck up and hers, I am not letting anything touch my wife ever again. This is a hassle she does not need.” Sometime during his spiel, my heart melted into a puddle and my expression gentled. I loved Ettore Scala. I really, truly did. “I will take care of it. She doesn’t need to know.”
But that wasn’t his decision to make. And as I began down the stairs, they both glanced up as I asked, “What don’t I need to know?”
Giada’s face snapped to her brothers, but Tor kept thin-lipped, his closed off expression on me.
Already feeling the exhaustion settle in, I asked jadedly, “What did she do now?”
Chapter 22
The Disciples
Vittoria
“Breathe, baby.”
The quiet words reached me and, in a delayed movement, I turned to my husband and took in a stuttering breath. He reached out and gently cupped my cheek. I leant into it as he said, “I stand by what I said. I don’t want you to do this.” When my lids opened again, he looked mildly haggard as he confessed, “I don’t want you in his sights.”
My neck twisted and I glanced out to the unassuming warehouse. Our limo was idling, waiting for an exit I wasn’t sure was even going to happen. I didn’t want to be here either.
I wasn’t very good with confrontation and you didn’t get more confronting than this.
My lips parted with my slow exhale. I turned to my husband, took his hand from my cheek and held it tightly. “I have to.”
Tor did not look happy. His jaw remained tight when he uttered, “I think your soft heart needs reminding that she would not do the same for you. I don’t need to tell you that she left you for dead and didn’t even flinch. And now, this shit?” He paused a moment. “Roam is not a man to be trifled with. The second you show an ounce of emotion, he will pounce on you like a lion hunting a gazelle, and then the rest of his pack will lunge for you too. They will eat at you until all that is left is a blood stain on the floor and then they’ll mop it up and it will be like you never existed.” I swallowed hard. Well, that didn’t sound great. “I have seen good people ruined all for gaining his attention. I need you to remain cool, calm and collected. Can you do that for me, baby?”
Oh God. My stomach hurt.
I don’t know. Could I?
I thought about my life prior to this moment. About my sister and her manipulations, about the times I should have spoken up when I remained soundless. About how she took my silence as weakness, never looking deeper, not knowing how taxing it was.
I hadn’t been silent by choice. I was silenced. There was a difference.
An ember of courage lit in my middle. Yes, it was small, but its glow had the tightness in my chest easing.