Total pages in book: 30
Estimated words: 26645 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 133(@200wpm)___ 107(@250wpm)___ 89(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 26645 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 133(@200wpm)___ 107(@250wpm)___ 89(@300wpm)
Paulie shakes his head and tries to push me away. I clock him in the face several times, watching more blood pour from his skin with each blow. He’s begging me to stop, but it’s too late for that. Any control I had before I started hitting him is gone now. I’m seeing red. All I can think about is how scared Daniella must have been. He and Gio shot at her. They tried to kill her.
Paulie’s body stills below me, and I finally manage to pull myself out of the frenzy I was in. He’s still breathing, but I stop hitting him. Quiet groans escape his throat as he moves his head back and forth slowly.
I stand up, walk past Gio who’s still howling on the ground, trying to stop the bleeding from his gunshot wound, and climb the stairs. Daniella is sitting on the floor of a bedroom with her hands and feet bound by rope and duct tape over her mouth. She screams through the tape when she sees me, hopping on the floor to try and get closer.
At first glance, she doesn’t seem hurt. But I need to get a better look at her to know for sure. I pull the tape off her face as gently as I can and see that it left behind a bright red mark on her pale flesh.
“They attacked me at the house!” she cries out, trying to explain what happened. I listen to her tell me everything in one long, breathless sentence while I untie the ropes around her wrists. “Thank you,” she whispers while tears fall from her eyes.
I grab her face and make her look at me, bringing mine up close to her. “I will never let anything bad happen to you ever again,” I tell her before kissing her.
16
DANIELLA
After Paulie confessed everything to me, we can finally close the case on who killed Daniels.
It feels good knowing that the work I did somehow helped solve his murder. The only bad part is that I lost my job. Dominic keeps telling me not to worry about it, that he’ll make sure I have everything I need and more. But I feel like a failure in some ways.
I worked as an officer to honor my father, and getting fired makes me feel like I let him down. However, I was fired because of my relationship with Dominic. If given the choice to do it differently, I wouldn’t. What we have is special, and I won’t risk it for anything in the world.
Dominic wakes me up on Christmas morning with a fresh cup of piping hot coffee. I sit up in bed and smile at him, excited about what we have in store for the day. Over the years, I’ve spent all of my Christmases alone, but now I have Dominic.
We drink our coffee together in bed while we discuss the plans for the day. We’re going to watch Christmas movies, have a Christmas feast for dinner, and spend every moment in between wrapped in each other's arms. Unfortunately, we haven’t had the time to get gifts for each other to unwrap by the tree, but Dominic’s company is more than enough for me.
When we finish our coffee, Dominic leads me into the living room so we can begin our movie marathon. I decided that we should start with my favorite Christmas movie, Miracle on 34th Street.
I take a seat on the couch and toss a throw blanket over my legs while Dominic gets the fire going for us. I watch him quickly get it roaring before turning to the tree.
“What’s this?” he asks, reaching under it to pull out a small present.
“Did Santa visit us?” I laugh, joining him by the fire to see what it is.
“All it says is ‘For Daniella’.” He shrugs, handing it over to me. I smile and take the small package in my hand.
I untie the red velvet ribbon wrapped around it and pull the top of the box off. Inside, there’s a small box. A little black velvet box that makes me freeze in place for a moment. I slowly reach inside and pull it out, dropping the present box to the floor in front of me.
“Daniella,” Dominic whispers. I look up at him to find him kneeling on one knee in front of me. “I know we’ve only known each other for a short time, but I loved you since the moment I laid eyes on you. You’re so special to me, and I know there isn’t any other woman I want to spend the rest of my life with. Will you do me the honor of being my wife? Daniella, will you marry me?”
I stare at him in shock for a moment. I’m surprised this is happening, but my heart is soaring. The excitement rushes through my body, and I feel like I’m flying.