Total pages in book: 101
Estimated words: 96733 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 484(@200wpm)___ 387(@250wpm)___ 322(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 96733 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 484(@200wpm)___ 387(@250wpm)___ 322(@300wpm)
“Me and my siblings still have stakes in the family business. Cliff is just the face and brains of the operation. That man could run three of these places in his sleep.”
I shrug, then continue. “I still come by and lend a hand from time to time. I’ve never forgotten my roots, but my heart is in TAB. It’s another legacy I hope to leave. My boys and my girls will have options.
“I know better than anyone. Sometimes you’re not cut out to follow the family business. I believe that should be okay. Push comes to shove, I wouldn’t allow for it to fall out of our family’s hands, but at the end of the day, I went with what felt right in my heart,” I muse aloud.
LaSalle searches my face for a moment than nods. “I like that answer. I can relate.”
“Why the hell is it so bloody hot out here?” Uri grumbles. “I’ll buy two horses right now if we can go back to the other ranch and sit inside the climate-controlled facilities.”
LaSalle snorts. “It was your wife who planned this retreat. Suck it up. All our balls are sweating, and our wives are only getting started.”
“As long as you know I am irritable and likely to kill something or someone. I will close my mouth. But don’t be surprised later because I told you so,” Uri mutters.
LaSalle’s son comes out of the house with three lemonade popsicles. He hands one to Uri, then another to his father. Nate and Bobby look at each other and head for the house.
I chuckle to myself. I’m sure Melva has more for everyone. Curious, I turn my attention back to Sammy as he licks his popsicle with a distant gaze on his face. He’s the only child they brought along with them on this visit.
The kid strikes me as a little different. Melva, the kitchen hand Cliff has kept on for the last ten years, took the boy inside to cool off while the women went off with Cliff to the stables. It didn’t seem like he was going to go with her at first.
Then this look came to his face, and he followed after her. I shrugged it off as it didn’t seem odd to anyone else. Although, I’ve wondered why of all the children here with their group, this is the only one to come along.
That’s when his eyes seem to clear, then he turns to look at me. Something in the way he looks into my eyes sends a chill through me. He pulls a little frown.
“You should take a walk with me. No need to lose your temper with her this time. It will all be over soon enough,” he says, then comes to grab my hand and starts to walk away from the porch steps where we’ve all been hanging out.
I’m a little stunned, but when I look to LaSalle and Uri, they shrug and nod for me to go with it. Not sure what to think, I follow the little boy who isn’t but nine according to his parents. Although he’s very tall for a nine-year-old.
He leads me away as if he knows where he’s going. He squeezes his little hand in mine as we get some distance away. I look down at him. His gaze is fixed on mine.
“You should get ready. You will learn why the sweet songbird left now that she has returned. Some things will get worse before they get better, but you will have new friends and family. The price will be paid for the lies, and it will be paid in blood.
“You were destined to be one of us. Like Cuore Selvaggio, your bloodline has always been on a path to intersect with this time—with the bloodlines of the Alliance family. Always remember this. Il nostro legame di sangue non nasce, si forgia.
“My mother likes you. She will become protective of you. This moment needed to happen without your anger. This will ignite hers.”
I stand with my mouth hanging open. “Well, shit,” I mutter.
How in the world does this kid know about that horse? What does he mean about lies? Who’s paying for what in blood?
I have so many questions. I think over his words in Italian. What did he say? Our blood bond is not born, it is forged.
My mind is racing with so much information and so many unanswered questions. Questions I’m not about to ask this nine-year-old for. Even if he seems like he’s some sort of oracle.
“Thank you for this walk. We can go back now,” he finishes.
LaSalle
I have learned to allow Sammy to operate. He gets this look, and we know he has something someone needs to know or hear. He has saved a few lives, so we don’t stop him.
A red Mercedes pulls up and I get a feeling I understand why Sammy pulled Trevor away. A woman with dark curly hair steps out and saunters her way around the car.