Total pages in book: 123
Estimated words: 118965 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 595(@200wpm)___ 476(@250wpm)___ 397(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 118965 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 595(@200wpm)___ 476(@250wpm)___ 397(@300wpm)
Furious that Sabella is trespassing in his most personal grief, Angelo orders Heidi to take Sophie to visit her brothers while he drives Sabella home. Intent on punishing her, he abandons the idea when she apologizes for what her family did to his. He’s equally moved by her apology and despondent about their future. Believing that Sabella is scheming with Lavigne to betray him, his only option is letting her live in isolation, far away from the old house where she can get her hands on incriminating evidence. But that poses a problem for their living situation when, one day, there will be children. Angelo sees no other way than separating the children from their mother, letting them live with him in the week while giving her weekend visitation rights.
Even though the prospect of living like a divorced couple isn’t ideal, Angelo decides to tie Sabella to him in blood, making it unlikely for her to run from him and impossible to leave the country without his permission. With no other solution in sight, Angelo flushes away Sabella’s birth control pills.
Kisses Like Rain
Chapter
One
Sabella
* * *
The slamming of the front door announces my husband’s departure.
I’m familiar with the sound. The brutality and finality that resonate in the echo are recurring themes in our lives.
We’re not a normal couple. Angelo Russo isn’t just any average man. There’s nothing mediocre about him. He’s the head of the most powerful crime organization on the island of Corsica, and I dare say also the most despised.
Who can like a man who rules his kingdom like a devil from his throne? Who can love a man incapable of compassion?
After the violent scene that took place when he discovered me in his family graveyard, he brought Sophie home like he promised. Nothing changed from earlier. I opened my heart, made myself vulnerable, and apologized for what my family did to his. Instead of mending what’s broken between us, my apology made it worse. Yes, he didn’t punish me as he set out to do. But closing himself off as if I’m nothing to him and leaving me cold and alone hurt more than any punishment could. Taking that first step of saying I’m sorry took tremendous courage. Rejecting my compassion and trampling on my heart confirm what I didn’t want to face.
We’re irreparably damaged.
It’s just me now. I alone am responsible for my happiness. There aren’t two people in this marriage equation.
I always knew that. Then why does disappointment sink in my belly? Why does my stomach bottom out?
The answer catches me off guard.
Because, deep inside, I kindled a spark of hope for us. Because I wanted him to like me. No, it’s time to stop watering down the truth. I wanted him to love me. Stupidly, I craved what most women want from a marriage, knowing very well that was never my destiny.
If going down on my knees and apologizing for my family’s sins didn’t break through my husband’s defenses, nothing will. Why did I even try? What does it matter anyway? He doesn’t trust me. He’ll never give me the benefit of the doubt. There’s nothing to fix here, nothing less ugly than hate in the cards for us. He’ll always be my dad’s killer. The blood of the family that murdered his will always run through my veins.
“Don’t you think so, Sabella?” Sophie asks, tugging on my sleeve.
I look at her. She posed her two dolls on the kitchen table and is feeding them an imaginary dinner.
Giving myself an internal shake, I put bread rolls in a basket. “What was that, sweetheart?”
“Beatrice thinks she should stay.”
She means the new doll Angelo gave her. The beautiful porcelain doll will never replace the stick doll. As far as Sophie is concerned, that crudely made doll is more than sticks, rope, and cork. Beatrice has been Sophie’s only companion for years. To Sophie, Beatrice is as real as I am. Given Sophie’s loyal character, it’s only natural that she’d stay faithful to Beatrice. I hope Angelo realizes that. If he gave Sophie a pretty doll in the hope that it’ll replace the imaginary friend who shared all the hardships of her short life, he doesn’t understand his niece at all.
I smile. “That sounds like a clever decision.”
Sophie stares up at me. “What shall we call her?”
I caress her soft, wispy hair. “That’s for you to decide. What does Beatrice think?”
Sophie scrunches up her face as she considers the answer.
I fetch the soup from the stove and put the pot on the table, making sure the hot liquid is far out of her reach.
“How about Alison?” she asks with a cute little frown.
“Alison? Do you know someone called Alison?”
“No, silly.” Sophie giggles. “Alison is from a story. It’s one of the books Angelo gave me.”
I dish soup into her bowl. “I don’t recall that story, and I’m pretty sure we read them all.”