Total pages in book: 196
Estimated words: 180438 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 902(@200wpm)___ 722(@250wpm)___ 601(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 180438 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 902(@200wpm)___ 722(@250wpm)___ 601(@300wpm)
“Look, kid, I can see you’re struggling; no one knows more about keeping this kind of shit from your woman better than I do. Don’t look at them. They’re all dense as hell, and their women only have to bat their lashes at them once to get them to spill their guts. Just take it from me—you’ve got to make up your mind that this is something you have to do and protect her at the same time.”
“Part of protecting her is shielding her from the darker shit in life. Women are naturally nosy as fuck, so we’re gonna have to come up with a foolproof excuse for why dafuq you’re going back to….”
“Daddy!”
“Dafuq, Mengele.” All the men in the room looked towards the computer, where a tinny voice could be heard. Lyon, who had been sitting next to me, started pointing at his men, who all shook their heads and started talking without sound with hand gestures and head shakes that I didn’t understand.
“Mengele, how did you get in here again? Where’s your cousin’s husband?”
“Uncle Gabriel isn’t here.”
“How did you hack into my computer again, Mengele?”
“I never left.”
“You… what do you want?”
“Oh, he doesn’t have to go back. She’s going to be in the hospital for a while, and by now, she’d be in quarantine if the doctors know what they’re doing. No one will be able to see her.”
“How long?”
“About a month, that was all the time I could buy you. I had to work fast, so I didn’t have a lot of time to work on it. Next time it’ll last much longer.”
“What exactly did you use?”
“Uh, Daddy, Mommy’s calling me. She needs help with the twins. See you.”
“Mengele, MengeLiNi?” I asked as soon as the voice disappeared. He just gave me a look but didn’t say anything.
“You can hide from your wife, but not your ten-year-old daughter?”
“Fuck off, kid, or I’ll let her have your ass next. Tyler, Mancini, one of you, get my kid out of here.”
“We can try, but if Russo helped her, there’s no guarantee it’ll happen,” Mancini answered.
“Wait, does that mean she heard everything we were talking about all day?” I looked around the room at the men, who didn’t seem as bothered as they should.
“Pretty much, which means I’m gonna have to pay her off so she doesn’t tell her nosy ass mother and her aunts what we’re up to.” He didn’t seem too bothered about the kid knowing. Even though he was putting up a fuss, I could’ve sworn there was a hint of a smile around his lips, weird guy.
There was a weight lifted off my chest, and I was still having a hard time believing I had a ten-year-old to thank. I did wonder, though, what she’d used on Janie to send her into quarantine, and the men seemed just as interested as they threw around ideas.
“I still have to make some kind of connection, though, don’t I? I mean, her family is going to want to know what’s going on.”
“Yes, but you don’t have to be at that house to do it. We’ve already cut them off from coming to the house, so it shouldn’t look too strange. As long as you and your girl don’t go out on the town, you should be fine until she heads off to New York.”
Zak said as he passed me another bottle of water. “The only thing is, this is going to take longer than a month; she’ll be in New York in a week, she’ll be there for at least three months, then she’d be doing the charity thing with Heather, and that should take a couple of weeks as well. Your next move is scheduling the tour, but we have to get you ready to be in a room with those guys before we let you do that. One slip up, and we’d lose all the work we’ve done so far, not to mention your life would be in danger.”
“After your girl leaves, we’ll start shooting the show with Sanders, or pretend to anyway, but we’ll be using that time to get you prepared.”
“I get it, as long as I don’t have to go back to Janie.” I don’t think Elena would be too understanding about that one, no matter what excuse I came up with.
“Alright, kid, go see your girl. Have a good night’s sleep, and try not to get too freaked out. This is a lot to take in all at once, and I’m sure once you get home, it’s going to hit you hard. Just remember, none of this is your doing or your fault.” Lyon was the most compassionate I’d seen him all day.
“Daddy, don’t forget to get their autographs. We need three, don’t forget.”
“I thought you had to go help your mother.”
“Oh yeah. Uncle Zak, you didn’t forget to throw out the flowers, did you?”