Total pages in book: 91
Estimated words: 88153 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 441(@200wpm)___ 353(@250wpm)___ 294(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 88153 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 441(@200wpm)___ 353(@250wpm)___ 294(@300wpm)
“I’m slowly finding me again. I wish my father were here to see it.”
Her beautiful blue eyes glisten with unshed tears. “Em, your father was extremely proud of you,” I console softly. She shakes her head.
“I know. I’ll be okay.”
“I won’t let you be anything but.”
“Now when can I talk to Katherine?” she asks again.
“I’d rather not. Besides, I know you’re upset, but there’s really nothing for Katherine to gain—”
Emilia shakes her head, stopping me. “She lost having you in her life and her bed. I’ve watched you in that bed for too long. I’ve tasted the loss of you in that time. Trust me, the loss of that is substantial enough to make a woman want to make you pay.”
Damn.
“Sweetheart…”
She gives me a sad smile before turning back to Antonio. “When?”
“They have her ready now, but perhaps it would be better to wait until after your father’s services are finished. You have enough on your plate right now.” He doesn’t even stop talking before she disagrees.
“No. I need to talk to her now. I must know if what I’m thinking is true before facing everyone tonight.”
“What are you thinking Emilia?” Antonio asks.
“I’d rather not say until I know. It might…hurt you,” she says carefully.
Antonio laughs as I shake my head. She’s still so innocent, even if losing her father has made her stronger.
“It’s not funny. This whole thing against Niko and my father had to come from within the ranks. It was too personal,” she argues.
“Not really. Gio was taken out too.”
“Gio’s death was more violent. There was hate in it, almost as if the killer wanted him to suffer extra in his death,” Emilia says.
I sit there in shock for a moment. “You know the details of Gio’s death?”
She blushes. “When you’re all alone with nothing, but your thoughts and doubts you have to concentrate on something. I used your computer, signed into my father’s personal drive from here and disabled our home computers.”
“You know how to do all that?” Antonio asks, in surprise.
“I taught myself to fill in the boredom of learning how to run the prefect household at finishing school.”
Maybe she’s not so innocent. Brilliant with a hunger to protect those around her. I stare at her, seeing her in a whole new light.
“Niko, your new bride is very surprising,” Antonio says, smiling.
I can’t help but frown. “New bride?”
Emilia holds up her hand, showing off the gold band on her ring finger and touching mine. “You’re the one that wanted that stupid contract. One day we’ll need to talk about self-fulfilling prophecies.”
I stare at her ring as I roll mine around my finger with my thumb. Until this moment, I honestly hadn’t noticed it. Truthfully, the feeling in my hands is just now starting to feel slightly normal.
“We’re getting married again. I’m going to be the one to put a ring on your finger. Not Callan. Besides, my woman deserves diamonds.”
“Oh no! Callan! I need to call him and tell him you’re awake,” Emilia squeaks. “Can you give me thirty minutes to get ready and make that call before you take me to Katherine?”
“You aren’t talking to Katherine,” I tell her flatly.
“The hell I’m not!” she huffs.
“You’re not alone now, Em. Besides I know how to get Katherine to talk where you won’t,” I tell her pointedly.
“You’re wrong. I’ll get her to talk if I must pull out her teeth one by one,” she mutters.
Antonio barks out a laugh as I try to hide mine. “Pull her teeth?”
“I’ve also been reading up on torture techniques,” she says shrugging making Antonio laugh harder.
I lean in kissing her forehead. “I’ll talk with her. You can watch.” That doesn’t satisfy her as she exhales in frustration. “You won’t know what questions to ask.”
“I’ll be there too,” Antonio adds. “We’ll ask the right questions.”
Emilia’s forehead creases as she scowls at us. “No, you won’t.”
“What your wife isn’t saying is she’s afraid you won’t find out my worthless nephew is behind it all.”
Emilia gasps. “You know?”
Antonio smirks. “We’ve had Dante under suspicion for a while. Even before Gio’s death. Now thanks to you bringing up Katherine, we finally have a connection.”
“If you knew all this time, why didn’t you already interrogate her? Why wait?”
“Because Maxwell was a great man, and he was your father. You deserved to have whatever you asked for.”
Emilia wipes away a tear that rolls down her cheek. “He was a great man. The best. But he loved Niko like a son and Niko deserves to avenge him.”
“We will get them together,” I assure her. She looks at me nodding as a tear escapes from her eye. I gently stop it with my thumb and we share a moment of understanding.
“I’m going to clean up. We can call Callan after the thing with Katherine and a doctor examines you a little more,” she says as she slides off the bed, practically skipping out of the room.