Total pages in book: 115
Estimated words: 110824 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 554(@200wpm)___ 443(@250wpm)___ 369(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 110824 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 554(@200wpm)___ 443(@250wpm)___ 369(@300wpm)
I could never tell her, though. It would open old wounds. I don’t want to hurt her. That’s not the real reason, though. I don’t want Angie to blame me. I don’t want her to hate me. I probably already achieved that little milestone now. God, I can’t believe I forced her to kiss me. I know she has scars and I tried to push myself on her like a madman.
I lift my hand to rub around my eye. It’s puffy and will be black soon. I don’t care, I more than deserved it. Fuck, I deserved worse. Although, the knee to my balls didn’t exactly feel great. I suppose I bought that ticket, too. I did so much damage tonight and the only thing I proved was that Angie was right all along.
There will never be anything between us. Kissing her felt all kinds of wrong. The more I tried, the worse it felt. If anything, my whole damn body recoiled from the kiss. Angie is my sister. She may not have that title by my blood, but she has it in my heart and my mind.
I let out a large sigh, and then push my hand through my hair. How in the fuck am I going to keep her safe? Once my uncles and I take my father’s place the vultures will begin circling and they all know I have one major weakness. Angie. Thanks to my father bragging how he used her to get me under control, they also know using her is effective.
My father exploited it for all he was worth. For three years, I became my father’s errand boy, doing things that still makes my skin crawl. I did it all just to make sure Angie was kept safe. I did everything my father asked until my uncle Ivan stepped in to bail me out. Thank God he did because my father actually decided to dip his toe into human trafficking. He had contacted some dim-witted idiot in Phoenix with the ability to launder our money who also had easier ways to traffic narcotics because he owned an art gallery. My father threatened Angie again and I was desperate. I knew he wouldn’t hesitate to use her in ways no woman would recover from. I alone knew exactly what the bastard was capable of. Uncle Ivan saw what was happening and came to my father, telling him that he had turned his back on Micah and Viktor. He said he wanted to join forces with my father, and passed every test my father threw at him. I knew some of the shit he did was hard on Ivan. How could it not be? He stuck with it, though, telling my father that their brothers were too weak to rule the Levkin name. I don’t know how he sold that bullshit to my father, but he managed it somehow. Most people didn’t even realize his father was a brother to the others, because his father had a different mother and was much older than my uncles.
Ivan did all of this because he wanted to shut down the human trafficking business my father had begun. It was so important to him that he threw his own reputation away. People now believe my uncle is knee deep in exploiting underage women, selling their bodies and those of young boys too. When in fact, it is my own father. How that man’s blood can run through my veins is beyond me. Then again, I did just force Angie to kiss me. God, I’m just as bad as that bastard. My phone begins ringing pulling my thoughts away from my dilemma. I start to ignore it until I read the caller ID.
“Uncle Mikhail?” My greeting comes out as a question because we agreed that he wouldn’t contact me here—just in case his calls are being monitored. We use burner phones to converse, but Mikhail is high profile. He could still be under surveillance.
“One of your men inside the DeLuca organization contacted me to give you a heads up. You have some company headed your way. Be prepared.”
“Fuck. Victorio is smarter than I thought.”
“Look alive, nephew. They will be leaving in the morning.”
“Got it. I’ll check in soon.”
He hangs up and I sigh. I have two choices. Take Angie away from here or try to reason with Victorio. Since I know that my original plan with Angie is a no-go, those are the only options available to me. If we can’t handle kissing each other, there’s no way marriage is a viable option. We would both be completely miserable. Not to mention, getting kneed in the balls and having black eyes is not how I want to enjoy my time with a woman who will share my bed.
I pick up my phone, dialing the number I programmed into my contacts before completely destroying Angie’s cell. We’ll see if the asshole is willing to bury the hatchet somewhere besides in my back—or if he will decapitate me with it.