Total pages in book: 104
Estimated words: 97634 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 488(@200wpm)___ 391(@250wpm)___ 325(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 97634 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 488(@200wpm)___ 391(@250wpm)___ 325(@300wpm)
I smoothed a stray piece of dark hair off Amara’s pale forehead.
“Nikolai kept pressure on the wound and was the only one not freaking out. As long as there isn’t an infection and you don’t strain yourself, the doctor said you’ll make a full recovery.”
She closed my eyes. “But?” My sister was smart. She knew there was more.
“The first bullet hit Father, and the last got Francesca.” I waited a second, gauging Amara’s expression. “She’s dead, too.”
“Father is dead.” Amara’s voice was low.
I looked down at my hands, my fingers twisted together in my lap. “Is it bad that I feel nothing?”
“Oh, Claudia.” She reached out and tightened her fingers around my thigh until I glanced up at her. “I feel nothing, either. In fact,” she said harshly, “I’m glad he’s gone.” She closed her eyes and breathed through her nose slowly. “He was a bastard. Cruel and heartless and deserved what he got. Francesca was lost… lost in her grief over her love for a piece of shit who could never give her the love she deserved.”
A long moment of silence stretched out.
“How is Mother?”
I sighed. “She’s fine. Shaken up, but I'm pretty sure it’s not because she saw Father bleed out in the foyer.” I gave a humorous laugh and shook my head. “I’m sure she’s trying to process everything that Francesca told her. Although you and I both know he was no saint and obviously didn’t take his marriage vows seriously.” I ran a hand over my face. God, I was tired. “I can’t believe he was having an affair with Francesca, of all people, and when they started, she was so young.” I couldn’t stop the disgust from filling me. “And the baby, Amara.” I looked at her. “She was pregnant. Possibly with Father’s baby—”
“Hey, let’s not think about any of that. Because it doesn’t matter. What’s done is done.”
“He could have survived,” I whispered.
“What do you mean?”
I looked at the closed bedroom door. “Father. He might have survived the gunshot. He wasn’t dead.” My voice was so low I knew only Amara could hear me. “But Nikolai wouldn’t let the doctor he brought in help. Nikolai demanded he only focus on you and told everyone to stay where they were. No one—not the staff, not us—were to call anyone for help. He said he’d take care of everything.”
I bit my lip, worrying the flesh until it stung.
“And as the doctor was working on you, Nikolai had the coldest look on his face as he stared at Father bleeding out all over the tile. Mother was crying and kneeling beside him, but she wouldn’t touch him, just kept shaking her head and staring at where Francesca lay dead.”
When I heard Amara’s voice hiccup, I reached out and took her hand in mine.
“Oh hey, I didn’t tell you to upset you, Amara. Calm down. Calm down. It’s okay.” I pulled the blanket up to her chest.
“You need to rest. I can tell you’ve probably been up since all this happened.”
When she gave me a hard look, one I’d seen many times because my bigger sister was always looking out for me, I nodded.
“How long have I been out, anyway?”
“Three days. But now that you’re up and talking and look relatively well, I feel like I could probably sleep for a month.”
She smiled, but it looked so weak. I stared at where the IV was in the crook of her arm. The blood they’d given her before was now replaced with fluids and pain medicine. “Besides, Nikolai asked—” I couldn't help but snort and roll my eyes. “Demanded, more like it, that I let him know the moment you were up. He’s been pacing this bedroom the entire time you were unconscious. The only reason he’s not here right now is because his brother flew in from New York, and he and Nikolai are speaking with Gio in the study. Now that Father is gone, Gio has taken up being the head of the family. I’m sure they have to get their houses in order and what this all means for the organizations.”
I brought our conjoined hands to my lips and gave her fingers a kiss before rising. Her eyes started drifting shut before she fell asleep. I let myself out and heard deep murmurs.
I followed the sound to the end of the hall. Nikolai stood tense beside Dmitry. They had their heads lowered as they whispered. As if they sensed me, Nikolai snapped his head in my direction.
He had this crazed look in his eyes and a set of dark circles under them from not sleeping. He’d refused to until Amara woke and he knew she’d be okay.
“She’s up, but just fell back asleep.”
He said a couple of words to his brother before hauling ass to the bedroom. When I heard the door shut softly behind him, there was a heavy silence that grew as I stood there, staring at Dmitry.