Total pages in book: 161
Estimated words: 151410 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 757(@200wpm)___ 606(@250wpm)___ 505(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 151410 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 757(@200wpm)___ 606(@250wpm)___ 505(@300wpm)
“Isabella, Gianna, are you okay?” Amo called. I briefly glanced his way. He was the reason we were here, the reason things escalated. My gaze next moved to Greta. Her eyes were on him with a look I could feel deep in my gut and in my heart. Her face expressed what I sometimes felt when I looked at Nevio. Longing and wistfulness.
Her feelings for Amo, and his for hers had led to the conflict between the Famiglia and the Camorra. Love could be a destructive force.
Suddenly, Matteo stormed toward Nevio and had to be stopped by Luca. “The fucker hit you!”
My eyes registered the bruise on Gianna’s face. I sucked in a sharp breath, but I simply couldn’t imagine Nevio slapping my aunt. It wasn’t his style…
“I’m afraid that’s not true,” Nevio said as he walked over to his father. “Sorry, Dad. I disobeyed, but I simply couldn’t resist ruining a wedding. If I’d known it would come to this…” He chuckled and exchanged a look with Massimo and Alessio, looking like this was the greatest night of his life. He wasn’t scared at all. He’d walked into danger as if it meant nothing, as if his life meant nothing, as if death and pain meant nothing.
“You’re going too far,” Matteo said quietly.
“Too far?” Remo snarled. “You attack me and my family while we’re guests in your territory. Never talk about honor to me again. I’m the master at playing dirty, Vitiello. You just opened the fucking Pandora’s box.”
Nevio peered down at Gianna and sucked in a deep breath. “I smell war.” He laughed as if this was good news. War.
“Leave my territory. We’re even. And let Gianna and Isabella go right now,” Luca said.
Remo scoffed. “Even? Plenty of Famiglia blood will be spilled before I’ll consider us even, Luca.”
“I think Alessio took a shining to your daughter,” Nevio kept provoking.
I stopped listening to their power play. I clutched Mom’s hand, wishing there was something we could do to stop the men. It was too late to stop a war, even I knew that, but we could all leave alive today. I didn’t want people I knew to die. I didn’t want to have to watch them die. Maybe that was selfish, but the idea tore at me. Especially if I considered that someone I loved might kill someone I cared about.
A gasp sounded somewhere and suddenly Greta was running toward the water. Her face was determined. No sign of fear even as she flung herself into the Hudson and disappeared under the black surface.
“Greta!” Several screams rang out and people began running. Nevio released Gianna and rushed toward the water to save his twin.
Nevio flung himself into the water seconds later and Amo followed after checking the water’s surface for Greta. Both of them were willing to risk it all for Greta. Remo and Serafina rushed toward the edge too, calling Greta’s name.
Mom wrapped her arms around me as if she was worried that I’d run there too. I was too frozen to move, by everything that had happened. The gunshots had ceased.
Dad and Adamo stayed close to us while Nino and Remo ran toward the water’s edge.
Amo pulled Greta out of the water and began CPR, soon after she opened her eyes. Nevio watched everything with a heaving chest and stormy expression from the side, dripping wet.
Even from a distance I could see his struggle, his fear for his twin’s life, his hatred for Amo. Mom brushed a few strands from my face. I could feel her shaking, which was surprising because my own body was wrecked by tremors.
I wasn’t sure how much time passed, but soon Dad led Mom and me away toward a van. We all got in. Greta was wrapped in a fluffy white towel and huddled against her mother Serafina. The drive was rough. Even though, the Famiglia had allowed us to leave, I still feared another attack.
I’d always felt like I had all the time in the world. Everyone had always said to me that I was still young and had my entire life ahead of me, but today had shown me how quickly things could change, how unexpectedly a life could end. There was still so much I wanted to do in my life, so much I hadn’t experienced yet, I was terrified I might never get the chance.
When we got out of the car, we were at an airport and a private jet was waiting for us. I held my breath until we were in the air.
It was silent in the airplane except for the low murmurs of the male members of our family. Their faces were a mix of anger and determination, and I knew they were already discussing revenge plans. More blood would be spilled. Life as I knew it was over. All because of two people who loved each other in secret. I’d thought it was romantic, now I realized it was tragic.