Total pages in book: 62
Estimated words: 61942 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 310(@200wpm)___ 248(@250wpm)___ 206(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 61942 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 310(@200wpm)___ 248(@250wpm)___ 206(@300wpm)
I smiled and promised to love him forever. “I do.”
A distant smile moved on to his lips as he looked at me, my hand in his. Then he brought me close and kissed me, and with complete disregard for the priest standing there, as well as my sister, he grabbed my ass—like always.
EPILOGUE
BARTHOLOMEW
After I parked the car, I walked up the gravel to the winery.
It was a quiet Tuesday in the summertime, tourists on the terrace enjoying their wine tasting. Instead of going into the office, I headed to the rear where their storage and bottling buildings were.
Didn’t want to deal with the obnoxious son-in-law again.
When I entered the warehouse, I found Cane on the forklift, trying to put a barrel on one of the top racks.
“Easy, easy,” Crow said from the bottom. “It’s like you’ve never done this before.”
“Shut up,” Cane snapped. “The forklift is glitching.”
“Forklifts don’t glitch, asshole. It’s not a computer.”
“Just shut your mouth, asshole.” He raised it higher and slid the barrel onto the shelf, but something went wrong and it rolled off the edge and shattered on the floor. Wine went everywhere.
Crow was so angry he didn’t say a word.
Cane sighed and dragged his hands down his face. “Jesus fucking Christ.”
“I told you to let me do it—”
“It’s the forklift!”
“Stop blaming other shit on your inadequacy!”
“What the hell is going on?” A woman walked inside, a brunette in jeans and a blouse. “I can hear you two going at it all the way from the terrace.” She glanced at me when she saw me standing there but then looked at the guys.
That was when Crow noticed me. His eyes narrowed on my face like he wasn’t the least bit happy that I was there. His mood immediately shifted, and he barked an order to the woman I assumed was his wife. “Button, go back to the terrace.”
Without hesitation, she obeyed, giving me a look before she walked off.
Crow walked toward me, and Cane hopped off the forklift and joined his brother.
“What the fuck do you want?” Crow got right in my face, a pit bull defending its territory.
I raised my hands in a subtle gesture of surrender. “I thought we would be on better terms after our last project.”
“I don’t like people showing up unannounced.”
“So, do all your customers make appointments?”
He gave me a hard stare. “I’m not in the mood for your punk-ass sarcasm.”
Heavy footsteps sounded behind me, and I knew exactly who it was. “Everything alright, Crow?”
Crow never took his eyes off me. “Not sure yet.”
I dropped my hands. “That woman you helped a year ago—she’s my wife now. We have a son. He’s a couple months old. We actually live just a few miles away from here, so I guess we’re neighbors.”
Crow ignored everything I said. “What do you want?”
“I’ve traded adrenaline for domestication. Hasn’t been easy. There are days when I feel so restless I could explode…but I never tell her. So I decided to focus my energy on something productive—like an olive oil business.”
Crow’s eyebrows furrowed.
“I planted additional saplings in the spring, and I know it’ll take some time for them to come into maturity, but I was hoping you could help me start this business. Perhaps I can learn a few things from the winery, like shipping, production, distribution.”
“And why would I help you?” Crow asked.
I gave a shrug. “You always have an ally right down the street. If shit ever goes down, you’ve got someone to watch your back. I’m sure your life is unremarkable and peaceful, but that’s always a reassurance. And if that’s not reason enough, I’m a rehabilitated man who wants to support his family honorably. I want to show my children how to live off the land. I want my kids to see me differently than everyone else I’ve ever met. You, of all people, can understand that.”
Crow was a man devoid of all emotion, and there was only one way to pierce his hardness.
Family.
It was the one and only time he had a heart.
“Alright,” he said. “I’ll teach you.”
When I walked into the house, I found Laura and Demetri asleep on the couch. He was on his stomach on her chest, and they seemed to breathe in sync. Her arms still cocooned him, and the sunlight came through the window and warmed them both.
I approached the back of the couch and stared down at the two of them. The house was silent, which was a rarity, and the world outside was quiet. The olive trees were visible in the distance, climbing up the hill until they disappeared on the other side.
I moved to the armchair and sat there, watching them both sleep, the two things that mattered most to me.
I wasn’t sure how long that lasted, how long I sat there and watched them, but it must have been an hour before Demetri grew fussy and started to cry.