Total pages in book: 49
Estimated words: 45819 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 229(@200wpm)___ 183(@250wpm)___ 153(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 45819 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 229(@200wpm)___ 183(@250wpm)___ 153(@300wpm)
For now, I would allow her privacy and space to gather her thoughts. Maybe some time alone would give her the chance to process the fact that Crawford had endangered and abandoned her.
It was past time for me to put that bastard in the ground.
“So, are you going to explain exactly what the fuck is going on?” Gian drawled from the threshold to the sitting room.
I turned and found the brothers facing me, both fixing me with twin disapproving frowns.
“Is that who I think it is?” Enzo asked, the scar that curved at the edge of his right cheekbone drawing deeper on a scowl. He grew his hair long to conceal it, but the mark was more prominent when he was pissed off. “She was talking about George. She’s Crawford’s fiancée. The one you saved that night you killed Duarte’s men.” He didn’t finish with a question. It was a statement of fact: a condemnation.
“Why is she here?” Gian demanded. “And why isn’t Crawford dead yet? Unless you’re keeping her as bait.” His frown deepened. “You’re not usually this sloppy, Massimo.”
“She’s not bait,” I snapped back. “But I am keeping her. She’s not going anywhere without me until Crawford is eliminated. She was almost shot tonight because of him.”
Enzo hissed out a disapproving breath. We might all be perfectly happy with our lawless lifestyle, but none of us liked collateral damage. Innocent civilians were to be kept out of the line of fire. At least, that was the way we conducted our business in Naples.
“Send her back to the feds,” Gian insisted. “You’re not her babysitter. Let her be someone else’s problem. We have enough of our own to be dealing with.”
“Not happening,” I refused. “I’m not sending her back to the DEA. Crawford will be able to get to her.”
“She might want to be with him,” Gian countered, infuriatingly calm and rational. “She’s his fiancée, after all.”
“She’s mine.” The fierce declaration left my chest on a snarl that I usually reserved for my enemies, not my closest friends.
Enzo blinked and took a step back. Gian looked like I’d punched him in the face.
A beat of heavy silence passed, and I forced my fists to unfurl where they’d clenched at my sides.
“I won’t let her go,” I declared, a hint of a growl still roughening my tone. “She’s safest with me.”
“Massimo, be reasonable.” Gian maintained his cool demeanor despite his shock at my aggressive outburst. “I get it. She’s beautiful. But just because you want to fuck her—”
“Don’t talk about her like that!” I thundered.
Enzo took another step away from me and placed a restraining hand on Gian, a warning to back off. The brothers weren’t afraid of me; they cared about me. I was rarely this unstable, and Enzo knew my moods well enough to recognize that I was on the edge of violence. Back in that dirty alley, I’d ended the man who’d taken a shot at her, but it’d been too quick. I’d failed to kill Crawford too. I needed an outlet for my rage, and Enzo wasn’t willing to allow his brother to draw my ire.
“Fine.” Gian was smooth as ever, placating. “Keep her if you want. Just don’t forget why we’re here. We have to conclude our business with Duarte and his Colombian partner, Rodríguez. If we fail, we won’t be able to take on the Boss back home.” His eyes glinted on the last: hatred and something more fervent, a burning need to wrest control from the old man who commanded our lives with the Camorra.
Most of the aggression drained out of me. “I won’t fuck this up for you,” I promised. “You know where my loyalties lie.”
I would die for my friends. Gian and Enzo loathed our boss, Cesare Salerno, a personal vendetta that went deeper than resentment of his casual cruelty. They’d made it their mission to overthrow the bastard and take everything he held dear.
We’d bided our time for years, and our work here in Mexico was the first clandestine move in our planned coup. Once the three of us controlled the lucrative new trafficking route into Europe, we’d have the global connections we needed to take on the boss. We would have powerful friends to back us up when the time came. Then we would be kings of our own domain, truly free for the first time in our lives.
It was everything we’d always dreamed of, going back to those early days of deprivation in Le Vele. It’d taken us over twenty years to get to this point; I wouldn’t mess it up for us now that we were so close to attaining everything we’d ever wanted.
When it came to stalking Crawford, my obsession with Evelyn had proven to be a dangerous distraction. But now that I had her in my power, I wouldn’t have to worry for her safety anymore. I could keep her close, and I would continue the work I’d started here in Mexico with my friends.