Total pages in book: 83
Estimated words: 79833 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 399(@200wpm)___ 319(@250wpm)___ 266(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 79833 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 399(@200wpm)___ 319(@250wpm)___ 266(@300wpm)
I pause to face him. “I don’t need someone else to clean up my mess. I’ll handle it.”
“’Kay.” He doesn’t seem convinced. “Anya is doing a great job with the books.”
“But?”
“But if I were you, I’d marry her sooner than later.”
I don’t miss the warning in his words. She has too many enemies on both sides of the law. Both Luigi and Kearney have strong motives for wanting her gone. Marriage is the best way of protecting her, but of everyone who means her harm, I’m sure she considers me her biggest enemy. And when it comes to my intentions of making her my hostage forever, she’d be right.
I drive back to Tersia and Richard’s place and wait in the car until Tersia sends me a message to say they’re done. Small groups of women file through the front door, talking and laughing. Tersia and Anya exit arm in arm, and then Livy steps out. The old lady exchanged the hot-pink dress in which she arrived for black leggings and a red hoodie. Her long gray hair is braided and twisted into a bun on her head. A large green tote bag hangs from her shoulder. After giving Anya a hug, she crosses the road.
I get out of the car and make my way over before Livy turns the corner. “Need a ride?”
She looks around with a big smile. “I’m meeting my tai chi group in the park for a moonlight session, but thanks.”
I frown. “Is that safe?”
She says with the same kind of patience that a teacher would address a primary school pupil, “I’m with martial art gurus, Sav.”
I nod. “Have fun.”
“Oh, I will.”
She winks, waves, and skips off.
Shaking my head, I take my phone from my pocket and text one of the men stationed nearby to keep an eye on her just in case. Then I jog back to the house to meet Anya.
Richard wheels a cart loaded with gifts onto the patio. He tilts his head toward the Corvette. “You may need a bigger car to fit all this.”
I catch the gaze of the driver who waits two cars down the street. “I came prepared.”
Kevin runs up on stiff legs and takes the cart from Richard. While he loads the mountain of gifts into the trunk and onto the backseat, I brush a kiss over Anya’s temple.
“Did you have fun?” I whisper.
She smiles at me, but apprehension sparks in her pretty eyes. “Yes.”
I thank Tersia for the arrangements, say goodbye to Richard, and usher Anya to my car.
Once we’re in the traffic, she turns on her seat to face me. “What happened?”
I don’t take my gaze off the road. “Who says anything happened?”
“I know you, Saverio De Luca. You wouldn’t have left if there weren’t an emergency.”
I can lie to her, but there’s enough secrets between us as it is. “Kearney instigated a raid on After Dark.”
“What?” she exclaims.
I steal a quick glance at her. “Apparently, I pissed him off.”
“No kidding,” she says, narrowing her eyes in a cute way. “So he retaliated by taking revenge?”
I clench my jaw. “He picked a fight with the wrong man.”
“What are you going to do?”
I think about that. “I’m going to tell him to stay the hell away from us. He obviously didn’t understand me the first time. I’ll have to make my point clearer.”
“Are you going to kill him?” she asks in a small voice.
My hackles rise. “Would it bother you if I did?”
“Yes,” she says softly.
I slam on the brakes and pull off the road, parking on the curb. Clenching the wheel hard, I face her. “Why? Because you care about what happens to him?”
“I don’t want another murder on my conscience.”
Her words still me. “Lewis’s death wasn’t your fault.”
“I knew something was wrong. He was acting strange. I could’ve stopped him from leaving. I could’ve prevented what happened if I’d finished working when he told me to and walked to the subway with him.”
Gripping her face, I splay my fingers over her cheeks. “Nothing you could’ve done would’ve stopped what happened. You couldn’t prevent it. Lewis signed his death warrant when he stole that money, and that’s the end of the story. You will not blame yourself, do you hear me?”
She nods in my hold, but the act isn’t convincing.
I caress her jaw, tracing the delicate line with my thumb before letting her go.
“Promise me,” she whispers. “Please, Sav.”
Fuck. I can’t deny her. Not when she begs.
“I don’t want anything to happen to you,” she says, putting her hand on my thigh. “Kearney isn’t just anybody. He’s a justice. Who’s going to be your alibi this time, huh? You may not be so lucky again.”
Yes, she’s definitely my lucky charm. And fuck me if her concern doesn’t turn my insides into mush.
I cup her hand where it rests on my leg. “I won’t kill him.”