Total pages in book: 99
Estimated words: 94720 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 474(@200wpm)___ 379(@250wpm)___ 316(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 94720 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 474(@200wpm)___ 379(@250wpm)___ 316(@300wpm)
“Tell me what’s wrong, baby.”
“H-h-h-he got rid of Aanya.” Her voice broke as she said the name.
My body went rigid. “Your horse?”
She nodded.
I waited until I trusted myself to speak again without blowing up. “He killed her?”
“He sold her.” She shook her head. More tears sprang from her eyes. “He sold her to hurt me.”
“Fuck.” I held her tighter and rocked her slowly. He was such a fucking asshole. I needed to make sure I found out exactly where her mother was, because I knew that would be his next move. “We’ll get her back. I promise.”
“We don’t even know who he sold her to, and now I have to marry Adria—” She hiccupped. “Now I have to marry Adriano and I won’t have you or Aanya, or anything I love that brings me comfort.”
I squeezed her tighter. “You’re not marrying him. It’s going to be okay.”
“He’s a monster,” she whispered once her tears subsided. She wiped her face and pulled back. “He’s a monster, Rocco.”
“I know, baby.” I wiped more tears away.
“I hate him.”
I sighed heavily. She was speaking out of anger so I wouldn’t bother to tell her that I hated him too. What he did was fucked up, but it could have been worse. He could have had Aanya killed and shown Lenora pictures of the slaughter. It was what I would expect of him. A man who could kill a child was capable of anything, and Giuseppe had done that twice — that I knew of. I pressed my lips to Lenora’s forehead and promised that everything would be okay.
“He hit me,” she said, her voice so quiet I almost missed it. A heat wave ran through my body.
“What did you say?”
“H-he hit me.”
I pulled back to examine her. “Where did he hit you?”
“He slapped me.” She pointed at her right cheek. “And he grabbed my hair really hard like he wanted to rip it off my head. . .” she paused when her lip started wobbling again. “And then he pushed the back of my head against the wall.”
My fists clenched on her lap. I closed my eyes and focused on breathing. I thought I’d felt rage before — when people owed me money, when I found out a husband was beating his wife, when I found out about the dad raping his daughter. I’d taken care of all of them, not out of rage but out of principle. The rage I felt right now was blinding.
“Rocco,” she whispered, snapping me out of my haze.
My jaw ticked as I ran my thumb over her cheek. “If I thought for a second he would get violent with you, I would never have sent you back there.”
“I’m sorry,” she said quietly.
“You’re sorry?” I asked. “For what?”
“For upsetting you. You already hate him so much, and now. . .”
“Lenora.” I wanted to grab her by the shoulders and shake her. Instead, I stared. “I love you. Yes, I hate him, but I love you. I’m upset because knowing you’re in pain hurts me.”
“I love you too.” She brought a hand up to touch my face softly. “So much.”
I felt some of my anger dissipate. Not all, but some, as I leaned in and kissed her. It was a slow kiss, a deep one that I never wanted to end, but it had to. I kept my forehead on hers as I stood up and set her down slowly.
“Don’t leave me,” she whispered, grabbing my shirt. Her broken plea was almost too much to bear.
“I will never leave you. I have to do some things before tomorrow.” I kissed her again. And again. And again. “Everything is going to be okay. I love you. You’re strong and brave, and mine. Remember that.”
“I’m yours,” she said quietly. “Will I see you tomorrow? You’ll be there for me?”
“Always, Principessa.” I kissed her one last time. “Always.”
She nodded, the sad expression never clearing. I wished I could throw her over my shoulder and take her away. Instead, I picked up my Mets cap and took two steps back.
35
ROCCO
I entered an empty room and locked myself inside as I thought about my next move. What I wanted to do was kill Giuseppe’s guards right now, but that would cause alarm, and we couldn’t have anything fuck up tomorrow’s plan. As it was, we kept the plan close to our chest and only told the people involved. It wasn’t that we didn’t trust our people, but one slip-up was all it would take for the entire thing to come crumbling down. Since Giuseppe was smart and had his men hanging out with ours so they could “become friends and network,” we couldn’t risk it. I didn’t even want to snipe. I wanted to be in the church to protect Lenora, but we didn’t have enough men to do that, and I knew my place was behind that rifle. Petra would be sitting in the third row, where Lenora would stop momentarily. She’d be the one to take Lenora away. If all went according to plan, they’d have no issue getting out of the church and to safety. Nico, Marco, Mattia, and Tony knew the plan. Dean, Gio, and Loren would walk through the main doors and start taking down Giuseppe’s men. He’d brought thirty with him, that we knew of. That was what scared me. Giuseppe was a slimy motherfucker. I needed to split his men up. We needed a plan B. For now, I just needed to get out of there. I pulled out my phone and called Jack. He’d agreed to help me in and out of here. He answered quickly.