Total pages in book: 91
Estimated words: 89772 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 449(@200wpm)___ 359(@250wpm)___ 299(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 89772 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 449(@200wpm)___ 359(@250wpm)___ 299(@300wpm)
He narrowed his stare at me, taking in what I was declaring. Since I didn’t want to argue with him, I got up and left. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t shocked he let me.
My feet moved on their own accord, and before I knew what I was doing, I found myself sitting in front of Adriana next.
“You okay?” I asked her, wanting to break the ice between us.
“Yeah.”
“I’m sorry for everything that happened to you. I can’t imagine what you’ve been through these past few months. Your brother was devastated. Your whole family was when they learned of your kidnapping. He beat himself up every waking moment for allowing anything to happen to you. Not a day has gone by that he wasn’t out chasing leads, using any means possible to get answers. Cruz is just trying to protect you.”
I’d only briefly met Cruz’s sister at my graduation party, and already I realized how much she was like her brother. She didn’t say anything, she didn’t even look at me. She completely shut off, imprisoned by her own thoughts. The only reason I noticed was I recognized the expression on her face. I’d worn it a time or two.
For some reason I couldn’t explain or understand, I felt a connection to her like I had with her mother. I wanted to help, give her peace of mind.
Maybe hope.
“My mom was killed in front of my eyes, when I was eight years old.”
Ari’s gaze met mine.
“I know firsthand what it’s like to have your whole life ripped away from you. It’s hard to comprehend and you spend nights awake asking yourself why? Why me? I didn’t ask for this, I didn’t want it. I’m a good person, I don’t deserve what’s happening to me, around me, to people I love. It took me a long time to come to terms with knowing this was the life I was born into. Instead of focusing on the bad, I tried to see the good. My father has done some very shitty things in his time, things that I know he’s going to have to take up with God. But I’ve seen his heart. I’ve felt his love. It’s difficult to separate El Capo from my Papá, and I imagine your mind is all over the place with what you learned tonight with your father. Rest assured, I’ve seen his love for you, Ari. His love for your mom, your brother. You’re everything to him. I hope you know that.”
“I do. And because of that, I know Christiano is a good man too.”
My eyes pinched together, waiting for her to continue.
“I spent the last seven months with him. I know things, like you married my brother. I know they’ve been searching for me. I know everything that’s been going on while I’ve been gone.”
“How?”
“He showed me.”
“Vitale?”
“Yes. He was at your wedding. He went for me.”
“What?”
“It’s hard to explain. I barely understand what happened between us. At first, he was cruel, but…I don’t know. Somewhere along the line, his demeanor changed. I was scared. I’d never been away from home or my family. And then being thrown to the wolves so to speak, it was terrifying.” Her eyes rimmed with tears, visibly reliving it all over again. “I’m not strong like my brother. I’ve been babied my entire life and I didn’t realize how bad it was until I was taken. All I had was time to think, and for the first time I truly recognized how naive I was. Am.” She shrugged. “It’s still really confusing. To make matters more unclear, Christiano came back one night, and he started showing me photos, videos he’d taken of everyone. Told me my brother was getting married. I cried the entire night that I wasn’t going to be there. He showed up the next night in a tux. He had a video of your wedding ceremony and reception, and it was the first time he was kind to me. He told me about the night, how happy Cruz looked. How miserable you did. Things began changing between us after that.”
“Wow. I don’t know what to say.”
“It doesn’t matter what I say, Cruz already gave his orders. He’s a dead man walking. It’s only a matter of time before they find him. He protected me. It’s why I was with him instead of Michael, who turned out to be my long-lost grandfather apparently. Which is even more mind blowing, I’m his granddaughter, and he hated me. He never once treated me like anything more than garbage beneath his feet. I knew he was obsessed with our family. He didn’t try to hide that.”
“He’s crazy.”
“Talk about genes, right? Michael didn’t give me to Christiano like he claims. Christiano walked in on Michael hurting me, and the next thing I knew he was taking me with him. I never went back into Michael’s hands.”