Total pages in book: 80
Estimated words: 76065 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 380(@200wpm)___ 304(@250wpm)___ 254(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 76065 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 380(@200wpm)___ 304(@250wpm)___ 254(@300wpm)
But this was different.
She fucking shattered.
And despite the betrayal I’d been feeling, I couldn’t just let her suffer, sobbing on the floor like that.
I pulled her onto my lap. I held her as she purged all that toxic shit so she could talk this shit out with me.
I knew there was something going on, something pushing her to do what she’d done.
I didn’t expect for it to be her abusive ex she thought she’d killed and her piece of shit, disloyal brother.
I mean, for fuck’s sake, what kind of brother would team up with the man who hurt his sister only to further terrorize and manipulate her?
I didn’t know.
But I planned to have a little chat with that shithead about it.
My mind was racing, anger at someone fucking me over and on Kick’s behalf making me feel racy and ready to haul off and punch something. Preferably the faces of Kyle and Jake.
Until, of course, Kick’s small voice broke through the tornado of thoughts, asking something I couldn’t have seen coming.
“Who are you?”
To be fair, there were times when I thought it was weird as fuck that she didn’t ask me shit about the family. Considering everything else we’d talked about over the past few weeks.
Then again, it wasn’t exactly something I’d brought up either. And I imagine that people assumed that they couldn’t ask about family business.
It never crossed my mind that she simply didn’t know who I was, what I was involved in, that the shop was a money laundering operation more than just a normal, legitimate business.
Then again, Kick wasn’t from the area.
She had no friends around here.
So unless one of the guys at work mentioned it, there was no way she could have known. And I didn’t think those guys would be dumb enough to talk about their boss’s other business practices while at work.
“You really don’t know?” I asked, watching her face for any tell.
“No, I mean… I thought I knew who you were. But…” she said, waving at me.
Exhaling hard, I nodded. “Does the name Lombardi mean anything to you?” I asked.
“Aside from it being the name of the meat shop, but not actually your last name?” she asked.
“Yeah, besides that.”
“No. Should it?”
“Lombardi family?” I tried.
“Are they famous or something?” she asked, looking lost.
“Infamous, maybe,” I said. “Alright. Well, not to pile on to an already overwhelming night,” I said, gesturing for her to sit. She did, on the end of the coffee table, watching me with suspicious eyes. “The Lombardi family is a crime family.”
“A crime family?” she repeated. “Wait… like… like the mob?” she asked, brows scrunched.
“Yeah, exactly like that,” I agreed, watching her eyes as she processed the information. Then, she let out a little laugh. “What?” I asked.
“The guys at work,” she said, shaking her head. “They used to make these jokes about The Sopranos. It never made any sense to me before. I… get it now. So, you’re, you know, in it? The mob?” she clarified.
“Yeah. Pretty high up, actually.”
“So the meat shop…”
“Launders mafia money,” I confirmed. “Which is probably why that shithead ex of yours thought you could get away with skimming. The money at the shop is… complicated. Not just, you know, matching the cash up to the receipts and shit like that. If I kept less precise books, it probably wouldn’t have gotten found out so soon,” I added.
“Rico, I’m so—“ she started.
“I know,” I cut her off. “I know you didn’t want to do it,” I said, thinking of that haunted, far-away look that she often had that had been bothering me.
“You’re… not mad at me?” she asked.
“I was,” I admitted. “Actually, that’s not even right. I wasn’t mad so much as…”
“Hurt,” she filled in when I couldn’t find the word.
“Yeah,” I agreed.
She nodded at that, blinking some fresh tears out of her eyes. Then her gaze fell, studying her shoes as she spoke again.
“Are you going to have to… kill me?” she asked.
Christ.
I mean, yeah, we were a notoriously ruthless family. But the men? We didn’t hurt women. That said, we were the only family that had female capos. And they didn’t have the same qualms about hurting or killing women that we did. So, yeah, some women had died in the Lombardi name in the past.
But it bothered me that she thought I would do that to her. That I would be capable let alone willing.
I moved across the room in a few quick strides, reaching out to grab her chin and force her to face me.
“No,” I said, voice firm. “I’m not going to have to kill you. I would never kill you. I wouldn’t put a hand on you.”
“But… your boss…”
“Will understand that you were a pawn,” I cut her off. “That the only people to blame are your ex and your brother. And maybe those shits who also robbed my place.”