Total pages in book: 76
Estimated words: 75699 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 378(@200wpm)___ 303(@250wpm)___ 252(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 75699 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 378(@200wpm)___ 303(@250wpm)___ 252(@300wpm)
“You should know,” Savannah says, “that the place is a fortress. You need a code to get through the gate. Otherwise you’ll have to call the butler on the intercom.”
“What’s the code?”
No reply.
“Savannah, please. I’m going one way or the other. You can make it difficult for me or easy for me. The fewer people who know I’m going, the better for me and for Vinnie. So if I can get right through…”
“Fine.” She gives me the code. “Please. Falcon is going to give me holy living hell for this. Please stay safe, Raven.”
“I’m going to your mother’s home. If it’s a fortress as you say, I’ll be safer there than I am in my own place.”
Again, silence.
Until— “I love you, Raven. Falcon loves you. And I’m sure Vinnie does as well. So please, for all of us, make it back here.”
14
VINNIE
I make it home to Mom’s house by six p.m. I spent the remainder of the day ruminating over Raven—asking her to stay away from me, and regretting it.
In between that, I thought about Belinda and how I could help her.
Would her father allow me to marry her now? It’s disgusting to even think about, and is it even allowed with parental consent?
I wouldn’t touch her, of course. She would simply live in my home with Mom and me in her own room. I would treat her like a daughter.
The idea sickens me, but how else can I help her?
Perhaps I don’t have to marry her to bring her to my home. Aren’t there some cultures where the intended lives in the husband’s home until she comes of age?
Oh hell, who knows? And who cares? None of this is possible.
As much as I want to help the girl, I just can’t.
She should be playing piano, exploring her musical talent, going to competitions, getting scholarships—not being abused by her father and being groomed to be a Mafia wife.
How can I help her?
“Vinnie, what’s troubling you?” My mother asks as I sit down next to her for dinner.
It’s chicken parmesan with a side of spaghetti. One of my favorites, next to lasagna. But I’m not at all hungry.
And I’m not amused by my mother’s question.
“What isn’t troubling me?” I retort. “You know the life we’re leading. It’s fucked up, Mom.”
She wrinkles her nose. “You know I don’t like that language.”
I slam my fork down on the table. “I don’t like this life I’m living. This is my home now, until I build my own. And I’m the head of this home. I’ll speak the way I want to.”
My mother looks down at her lap.
What the hell is wrong with me?
“I’m sorry,” I mumble.
“You’ve been spending too much time with your grandfather.”
I swallow. “It’s not like I have a choice in the matter, Mom. If I’d stayed in the beginning, Mikey would still be alive, and Savannah would never have been in the situation of having to marry Miles McAllister. Dad wouldn’t be in jail.”
She shakes her head curtly. “Don’t blame yourself, Vinnie. I don’t blame you.”
“No, you blame Savannah. Which makes no sense at all.”
“I love Savannah,” Mom says. “I adore her. But she never knew her place.”
“She knows her place just fine. She’s a woman of the twenty-first century. But this family is still living in Victorian times.”
“It’s just the way it is, Vinnie.” She sighs, gazing toward the window. “I was barely eighteen when I was married off to your father. We grew to love each other, but we could’ve just as easily grown to hate each other.”
“I need to talk to you about something,” I say. “About Belinda—”
The doorbell rings. “Who could that be?” Mom asks.
The butler answers the door, and a few moments later, he interrupts our dinner. “Pardon me, Mr. Gallo, Mrs. Gallo. There’s a young lady here to see you, Mr. Gallo. She says her name is Raven Bellamy.”
Just the mention of her name and my heart speeds up.
What is she doing here? How did she even get here? She’s not supposed to be driving for more than twenty minutes.
Of course, after that Uber fiasco, she probably wouldn’t trust a rideshare.
I rise. “Excuse me, Mom.”
“She’s Falcon’s sister,” Mom says. “What’s she doing here?”
“I’ll find out.”
“Invite her to join us for dinner,” Mom says.
“I’ll see.”
I walk out of the kitchen dining area to the foyer where Raven stands underneath the grand crystal chandelier.
She’s wearing simple jeans, flip-flops, and a white T-shirt. Her cheeks are rosy, her lips pink. She looks beautiful, and both my heart and my dick react.
She gives me a tentative smile. “Hello, Vinnie.”
I can’t help myself. I walk toward her and take her into my arms, planting a chaste kiss on her lips before I simply hold her.
But just as quickly, I pull back, meet her gaze. “What are you doing here? I told you today that I can’t—”