Total pages in book: 80
Estimated words: 77579 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 388(@200wpm)___ 310(@250wpm)___ 259(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 77579 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 388(@200wpm)___ 310(@250wpm)___ 259(@300wpm)
“So, no way someone dragged her out of there against her will?”
“Nah, I don’t think so,” Joe said, shaking his head.
“So, you think this was all a ruse?” Miko asked.
“Think so,” Joe agreed, nodding. “She came out of the penthouse like a different person today,” he added.
“Different how?” I asked.
“Dunno. I mean, I’ve been with her every day since she moved in,” Joe said, and I didn’t correct him. “She was always just real nice. She came out all cold and calculated today. Tony tried to stop her, grabbed her arm. Not hard,” he clarified. “Just trying to stop her from just walking into the elevator. And she turned, all ice queen, and said you’d be pissed if he put his hands on her.”
She wasn’t wrong about that.
I would break his fucking hands if he put a bruise on her.
And not think twice about it, either.
“Then she said she was leaving, and it was up to us to go with her or not.”
“So you went,” Miko concluded.
“She had her mind made up, man,” Tony said.
“Then, when we got to the store and she picked up the box, I figured it was, you know, an emergency kinda situation,” Joe said.
“Also figured it might be what the mood was about,” Tony added, getting another eye roll out of Miko.
“Anyway, when she didn’t come out in five minutes, we got worried,” Joe said. “Went down the hallway, knocked on the door, called her name. When she didn’t answer, we went in. And she was gone.”
“Fuck,” I hissed, turning away from them, stalking down the street a bit, too antsy to stand still.
Five minutes wasn’t a long time.
But the city was, objectively, small. And crowded. She could have gotten way the fuck out of there in that time.
She could be anywhere.
“Going to her shop,” I said, rushing toward Silvano’s car.
“Right behind you,” Miko said, slapping his hand into Joe’s chest, making him and Tony snap to and follow him.
It was a short drive, but it felt like for-fucking-ever as my heart slammed against my ribcage, my stomach twisting itself into knots.
Why the fuck would she leave?
Not only leave, but leave her guards? Risk her safety?
“What’d you do to her?” Silvano asked, making my head whip over.
Because it was the same question I’d been asking myself.
“I don’t know,” I admitted.
I mean, I’d broken her door down. But that seemed all forgiven when she melted into me, when she’d writhed against me, when she’d moaned, and her pussy spasmed around my cock.
“You’re fucking her.”
It wasn’t a question, but I went ahead and answered anyway. “Yes.”
“And?”
“And what?”
“Look, can’t claim I have any more experience with this shit than you do, but I’m closer to the Family these days. I see things.”
“And?”
“And seems like when they’re living with you, and you’re fucking them, shit gets complicated. Feelings-wise.”
“Feelings,” I repeated, the word sounding foreign on my lips.
“Yeah,” Silvano said with a little huff of laughter. “Know your old man fucked you up,” he said. “But you’re not a fucking kid anymore. You don’t gotta act like he trained you to act. Actually, seems like maybe it’d be the ultimate Fuck you to him if you stopped acting like he trained you to,” Silvano said, parking the car, then cutting the engine.
I climbed out with my head spinning.
Because, fuck, he was right.
It wasn’t enough that I didn’t abuse women and children like he had. I needed to undo the other shit he’d done to me. The coldness, the detachment. The inability to let anyone get close to me.
My mind played the night before back, trying to see it through Halle’s eyes, something I wasn’t sure I’d ever really attempted to do before.
And there I was.
Dropping her hand.
Turning her away to create distance.
Not even letting the sweat dry before climbing off the bed.
Then leaving her alone.
I wouldn’t pretend to know exactly what women wanted, but I’d seen enough of the healthy relationships in my Family to know that the men and women were affectionate with each other. Casual touches. Embracing. Stolen kisses when they thought no one was looking.
And there I’d left Halle.
Fucked.
And… discarded.
Because there was no way she could have known the conflict I’d been feeling inside, the knee-jerk need to get away from it, to detach from it. From her. From my growing feelings toward her.
“Fuck,” I hissed as I turned to look at the shop, finding it still dark, still gated.
It was a long shot.
She might have been reckless enough to lose her guards, but I didn’t believe she was foolish enough to just open her business, all but putting a Welcome sign up for the brothers to find and attack her. Do vile shit to her.
On a growl, I moved toward the door that led up to the apartments, tearing up at them two at a time, hearing Silvano, Miko, Joe, and Tony rushing up behind me.