Total pages in book: 123
Estimated words: 118965 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 595(@200wpm)___ 476(@250wpm)___ 397(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 118965 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 595(@200wpm)___ 476(@250wpm)___ 397(@300wpm)
Just because there’s a signal doesn’t mean Waldo is alive. They could’ve killed him. I never answer calls from unlisted numbers. That’s why they used his phone. Now that they made contact, it’s only a matter of time before they destroy his phone. They must know I’m able to track him. Time is of the essence.
One of my men opens the sliding door in the lounge and exits. “The house is clear. He’s alone.”
I’m shaking with fury and an unfamiliar feeling that my brain classifies as fear. I bark out a command, letting it fall on the ears of whoever is closest to me. “Tell the driver to bring the car.”
“Yes, sir,” the man on my left says, pressing his phone against his ear to execute the order.
“Round up the men. Get a 4x4 here. We’re heading toward Monte Cinto.”
My uncle steps out. “Angelo, what’s going on?”
“What weapons do you have on site?” I ask him.
“A few automatic rifles and grenades,” he says. “They’re in the cellar.”
I hold out my palm. “Key.”
He takes a chain with a key from around his neck and hands it over. I throw it at the man on my right who catches it in midair.
“Get everything. Now.”
He jogs toward the house with two men following on his heels.
“Angelo,” my uncle says again. “What happened?’
I can barely stand the sight of him. Disgust wells up in my throat. “Someone took the children.”
He blanches, looking as if he may keel over. “I know why you came, but you must let me help you.”
“Help me?” I utter a cold laugh. “Why would I do that?”
“Because this is our fault.”
“What the fuck have you done?”
He holds up a hand. “We didn’t mean for it to go this far.”
In a blink, I’m in front of him, fisting the front of his silk gown. “Their lives are at stake, so speak or I’ll cut out your tongue.”
Unfazed by the threat he knows too well is real, he continues in a regretful tone, “Nico made a deal with Mario.”
I go quiet. I must’ve heard wrong.
“I’m sorry, Angelo. We wanted to do right by our brother, and you weren’t thinking straight where your wife was concerned.”
No, I haven’t been thinking straight. Thanks to them. Thanks to my uncles’ manipulative scheme in convincing me Sabella betrayed me.
Yes, she tried to marry her best friend to escape being tied to me in name and blood, but for the first time, I see that day with clarity. In one of the most terrifying moments of my life, I finally see everything for what it is.
I see that she did what she did to save herself from a monster who never gave her a reason to believe in him. She gave me her heart once, and in return, I ruined her father before killing him. I never lied to myself about who I am, but as I’m forced to face that I can’t go through what I suffered with Adeline and my mother again, I see it clearly. I can’t lose another person I care about.
I can’t lose Sabella.
If I do, my life will no longer have any meaning.
For the first time, I’m standing on the outside, looking in, and I understand what needs to be done. I understand what she did when she told me she was sorry. She offered me forgiveness, and I threw it back in her face. And I see what I didn’t want to admit, that we can only move forward if I lay my vengeance to rest.
Start anew.
Begin over.
Give us the beginning I stole from us.
All I achieved in my feverish determination to make Sabella mine was drive us to our end.
Yes, I see it all, how my bitterness blinded me and how my uncles exploited that. They made a deal with my rival.
Marziale.
“What did you do?” I ask, shaking him hard.
“It was Daisy Remington’s idea. She came to us with a plan, and we reckoned it worked in our favor.”
Bowled over, I let him go with a shove. “Daisy fucking Remington?”
He has the decency to look guilty. “We made a pact. Laid down borders. Agreed on routes. She wanted Powell’s business. We wanted the rest. Mario would get thirty percent of everything.”
“In exchange for what?”
“For respecting our territories. For avoiding a war between us.”
“And all you had to do before setting this brilliant plan in motion was to remove the only obstacle that stood in your way—me.”
He hangs his head.
His stupidity makes me laugh. “Did you for one minute believe Marziale would honor your terms? Once you’d gotten rid of me, he’d shoot you in the head and take everything. You know that, right?”
“You have to let me help you, Angelo. Let me go with you to find those kids. I know Monte Cinto like the back of my hand. Those mountain passes are treacherous. I did tracking training with the nationalists there in my day. You’ll never find the secret paths into the gorge on your own.”