Total pages in book: 97
Estimated words: 112337 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 562(@200wpm)___ 449(@250wpm)___ 374(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 112337 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 562(@200wpm)___ 449(@250wpm)___ 374(@300wpm)
His jaw tensed. "I'm paying off a loan you could say by fighting."
I frowned. "Money?"
He sighed and closed his eyes. "No, not money. It's more complicated than that."
I sat up and pulled him upright with me. I turned to him, crossed my legs, and gestured him with my hand to carry on talking. "I've got nothin' but time so start talkin'."
Dominic's lip twitched. "Bossy."
I shrugged.
He scrubbed his face with his hands before locking eyes with me again.
"My dad was Marco's best friend since they were kids. They were both bad people and started up their empire from scratch. They had links to a number of Dons from different Mafias, nearly every drug cartel known to man, and they pretty much had the law in their back pocket. My brothers and I grew up around violence and that lifestyle not knowing any better. We were treated like princes, and got everything we wanted because of who our dad was. High-end escorts were servicing me from the time I was thirteen, because I didn't want to jerk myself off. Our lives were a blur up until my mom and dad got killed just after mine and Damien's fifteenth birthday. Dad crossed Marco looking to get some extra money on a drug cartel deal, so Marco had my dad and mom killed before they could take him out. They were best friends, but their greed for money changed them, made them hollow… evil. My mom was no better; the only thing she loved was money and materialistic things. She encouraged my dad to keep our lifestyle up… it got them both killed in the end."
Dominic watched me while he was speaking and stopped when he saw I was now crying.
"Baby, please don't cry." He frowned and reached for me.
I moved forward and engulfed him in a hug, holding him to me tighter than I ever had before.
"I'm so sorry."
Dominic swayed me. "What are you sorry for?"
"For your upbringin', I wish you and your brothers had the love Branna and I had from our parents." I sniffled.
He rubbed his thumb across my cheek and murmured, "No one has ever cried for me before."
"Well, I live you so of course I'm goin' to cry when I hear about your childhood," I cried.
Dominic lightly smiled at me. "Bar my brothers, you're the most important thing in the world to me, you mean everything to me. I just want you to know that before I finish what I need to tell you, okay?"
There was more?
Oh, God!
"Okay," I nodded.
He blew out a breath and licked his lips before he said, "It's disgusting to say, but I genuinely don't care that Marco had my parents killed. I hate him but not for that. We never saw my parents and when we did they were cold people so them being dead wasn't hurting anyone… except Damien. He really is a lover and not a fighter in all aspects. He was the only one who held out hope that our mom would someday love us instead of her clothes and bags, and that our dad would be proud of us instead of Marco's nephews Trent and Carter. After they were killed he wouldn't let us speak a bad word about them; he got very violent if we did."
I blinked my eyes in shock while Dominic nodded his head and said, "I know it's hard to think of him as being violent but after our parents were gone he just changed."
I felt sick as I listened to him, my heart hurt for Dominic and all his brothers. I just wanted to squeeze them all.
"Marco's nephew Carter doesn't look like the family at all, but he is evil like them and Trent was even worse. He really was a younger version of Marco in all aspects from looks to personality."
I furrowed my eyebrows. "Was?" I questioned.
Dominic nodded his head, closed his eyes for a moment before opening them and looking directly at me. "He is dead. His death is the reason my family is in debt to Marco."
"Do you owe him a lot of money or something?" I asked.
Dominic shook his head. "Not money but we do have to work off our debt to him. My brothers, bar Damien, have certain jobs they do for Marco. My job is fighting."
I frowned. "I don't understand. Why are you and your brothers in debt with Marco over his nephew's death?"
Dominic sighed. "We have to work for Marco in order to keep Damien safe."
I felt my heart stop. "Why just Damien? Why is he always singled out?"
Dominic looked at me then, his eyes locking with mine. "Because Damien is the reason why Trent is dead. He killed him."
"What did you just say?" I whispered, hoping I had heard him wrong.
Dominic lifted his hands to my face. "Please don't think less of him, Bronagh. You have to understand what our parents death did to him, what it still does to him. You think you have problems with letting people close to you? Damien barely loves me, and I'm his twin!"
I widened my eyes. "Don't say that, he does love you. You just have to see you two together to see that."
Dominic sighed and rubbed my cheek with his thumb. "He has opened up a lot lately since we've been here. I know he hasn't forgotten our past, but he seems different here, he isn't as cold anymore."
I gave him a look and said, "Say that to the trail of heartbroken girls at our school and around town."
Dominic smiled a little. "He makes them no promises, Bronagh. Having sex is the only intimate thing he does with girls. He doesn't feel for them, he doesn't feel for anybody and not by choice; he is just hollow inside. He is a nice guy, but if you're looking for someone who is sensitive or someone to have a talk with about feelings and shit, you might as well pass him by because he doesn't do anything like that with anyone."
I held up my finger. "That is where you're wrong, dear boyfriend. He randomly told me the other day that I was growing on him and not just because I'm hot," I grimaced at the last part of my sentence, making Dominic snort.