Total pages in book: 148
Estimated words: 142939 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 715(@200wpm)___ 572(@250wpm)___ 476(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 142939 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 715(@200wpm)___ 572(@250wpm)___ 476(@300wpm)
“I feel better since I talked to Bianca and she’s doing fine, but also kind of worse that I know what my father intends for her–though she has no idea.” She sighs. “But I trust you, Antonio. I know you won’t let her get hurt.” She gets on her tiptoes and kisses me. “I should go upstairs. I already promised Carina and Diablo I’d try to broker peace between them once you came home safe.”
“I’m here, angel. Go on up.”
“All right.” She moves toward the stairs. “But you’ll be up soon?”
“Soon.”
She nods and climbs the stairs. When she’s out of sight, I hear her say, “Oh! Diablo, we’re already off to a bad start. Why are you clawing Carina’s door like that?”
I turn to head to my office, but Gilly comes rushing down the hall. My stomach drops when I see the look on his face.
“What’s wrong?” I ask.
“Butcher.” He skids to a halt in front of me. “He’s gone.”
“Gone where?” I don’t exactly keep tabs on Butcher, but then again, he’s always around. Like Gilly. The two of them are my right and left hands.
“I got a text from one of my lookouts you had me put on the Larone house.”
My eyes go wide. “Oh, shit. Are you telling me he’s there?”
Gilly nods. “He pulled up on the back road that goes through the trees. Did it stealth, but our lookout still managed to get a shot of him.”
My head spins as I try to put this puzzle together. “Why the fuck is he there?”
“I don’t know.” He shakes his head, then pinches the bridge of his nose. “I haven’t a fucking clue. He didn’t say anything. When you got back, he just took off and went straight there it looks like. Do you think he’s going to try to gank Constantine for you?”
“No. He wouldn’t do that unless I gave the order.” I realize Butcher is a fucking force of nature, but he doesn’t go against me. Never has. Never will. There must be something else going on that I’m missing, but what?
I pull out my phone and text him.
Me: The fuck are you doing?
I feel a small sense of relief when I see the dots bouncing.
B: Taking care of something.
Me: At the Larone house?
B: Yeah.
Me: Get back here. Now.
The dots don’t bounce. He’s gone silent. What the fuck is going on with him? Butcher is violent and loves bloodletting more than anyone I’ve ever met, but he’s usually pretty logical. This, though—this behavior is completely out of line for him.
“What the fuck is he doing?”
“Fuck!” Gilly turns his phone around to me. I read the text from our lookout, and then an image pops up. That’s when my blood goes cold.
Scrubbing a hand down my face, I meet Gilly’s eyes. “Round up the men. We’re about to have Constantine’s soldiers on our doorstep. Maybe Frangione’s too.”
“He’s lost his fucking mind.” Gilly stares at the phone, at the night vision shot of Butcher loading what can only be Bianca Larone into the trunk of his car. “Just off the fucking deep end.”
I don’t disagree. But it doesn’t matter now. What matters is protecting my family, and I will spill as much blood as necessary to keep my angel safe.
20
ANGELICA
I find Carina and Diablo in the midst of a standoff in the middle of the hallway. The second Diablo spots me, he darts over to me to slink between my legs, rubbing himself against me. Carina glares at him.
“Whatever. All the men in this house run from me, so you’re not special.” She turns, stomping into her bedroom before the door slams.
“What the hell was that?” I say to Diablo, surprised at Carina’s overreaction. I drop to my knees and give him a scratch under his chin. “Is there something going on around here I don’t know about?”
He purrs his response.
“I’ll check on her.” I kiss the top of his head before I make my way over to her bedroom door.
I knock.
“I’m asleep,” she shouts.
“You sound super asleep.” I open the door, not waiting for her to invite me in. “What’s up?”
“Nothing. Just annoyed,” she huffs.
“No one ignores you,” I tell her. Everyone is actually super nice to her. If anyone is being ignored by the opposite sex around here, it’s me. The men treat Carina like a kid sister for the most part. She’s always popping jokes with them. Ones that I would have gotten backhanded for at home. But Antonio’s men only chuckle at her.
“No one ignores me? He’s always ignoring me. He won’t even look my way most of the time. Been doing it for years, and you know what? Fuck him. I’ll ignore him right back. I’m sick of his shit.”
“We’re not talking about the cat, are we?”
“I think I’ll go away for college. I’ll live on campus.” She smirks. “One with boys. Lots and lots of them.”