Total pages in book: 145
Estimated words: 136915 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 685(@200wpm)___ 548(@250wpm)___ 456(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 136915 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 685(@200wpm)___ 548(@250wpm)___ 456(@300wpm)
“He’s mine, don’t forget,” Nevio said in an eager voice.
“Don’t worry. There’s going to be enough left of him for you to torture.” Once I’d impaled Antonaci’s knees, shins and palms with nails, I swallowed my own rage and stepped back to allow Nevio his turn.
If I’d thought he’d been surprisingly controlled before, I now got why. He’d held back his rage to have it for Antonaci.
When Remo and Nevio were done with the seven men the stage and everyone on it was covered in blood. It dripped down the stage onto the ground below, reached the shoes of the soldiers standing too close.
“The Famiglia and the Camorra stand together from this day on. We’ll be stronger. We won’t tolerate disobedience. You’re either loyal or you’ll die,” I shouted.
Mom watched me take one hard-earned step after the other. I worked even harder now that Amo was in New York. I wanted to make progress so he wasn’t so worried about me anymore. I wanted this to be his Christmas present.
“Do you have a moment?” Mom asked.
I limped over to her with my crutches and sank down beside her. “Is something wrong?”
Mom shook her head quickly and took my hand. “I talked to the doctors who did your surgery and also a few other specialists.”
I frowned. Had she not told me everything? Was there more? What if my injuries were even worse than I thought?
“Don’t look so scared. This is positive. I think it is.” She let out a nervous laugh, and touched my cheek. “When they did the surgery on you, they didn’t have to remove your ovaries.”
I nodded, because I knew that. It was why I didn’t have to suffer through an early menopause.
“That means you can have your own babies.”
“I could, but I can’t carry them.”
Mom nodded, her hold on my hand tightening. “You could use a surrogate.”
I began to shake my head. That would require an amount of trust in a person that was difficult to achieve. The idea that a stranger had my baby inside of her and could possibly hurt it…
“If you trust me, I’d gladly carry a baby or babies for you.”
My lips parted in utter shock. “Mom.”
Tears welled up in her eyes. “I talked to the doctors. My age won’t be a problem because we’re not using my old eggs, only my womb and that’s still fine.”
Mom was only forty-one. Chances were high she could still conceive too. “You hated being pregnant.”
“It wasn’t that bad.”
“It was. You threw up so much when you were pregnant with Giulio and you told me your first pregnancy with Nevio and me was incredibly hard on your body.”
“It doesn’t matter. Let me give you this gift, okay? Nothing’s worse than seeing your child suffer. Trust me, I want nothing more than to give you the chance to become a mother yourself, and you can experience the pregnancy through me, can be there when I give birth.”
“You really thought it through.”
I was completely overwhelmed. I hadn’t spared another thought on children, hadn’t dared to do so. I’d focused on walking and maybe dancing again, because that was something in my grasp.
“You don’t have to decide today, or tomorrow, or even next year. Just know that I want to do this for you.”
I threw my arms around her. “I can’t think right now. Thank you, Mom. Thank you so much.”
It was the day before Christmas and I was practicing walking with my crutches under Kiara’s watchful eyes in Mom’s yoga room again when Nevio stepped into the room. Surprise washed over me. I hadn’t expected them to be back again.
Nevio stuffed his hands into the pockets of his black cargo pants, hovering in the doorway. He had avoided talking to me since the attack. I had heard only figments of what had gone down in New York. Nevio looked as he always did when he was with me, not like the monster he let out more and more.
“Can you give us a moment?” he asked. Kiara nodded. She touched his arm briefly as she walked past him.
I resisted the urge to ask where Amo was. Nevio obviously wanted to be alone with me, and he deserved my full attention. He wasn’t used to sharing it.
“Won’t you come closer?” I asked.
Nevio strode toward me, his eyes lingering on my cast before he met my gaze. “I know you don’t want to hear it but I killed everyone who did this to you. I poured all of my rage into it. For you.”
I smiled and released my crutches to hug him. Nevio quickly wrapped his arms around me, obviously worried I’d fall. “I know that’s how you show me your love.”
“You’re really going to leave Las Vegas?”
I peered up into his haunted eyes. “I have to follow my heart. We can see each other all the time now that there won’t be war anymore.”