Total pages in book: 137
Estimated words: 126060 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 630(@200wpm)___ 504(@250wpm)___ 420(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 126060 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 630(@200wpm)___ 504(@250wpm)___ 420(@300wpm)
“I can’t imagine what that must have been like for you.”
“I had a teenager’s anger and arrogance to spur me on. No one was going to be faster or better. I already considered myself smarter.”
He gave her a little grin, but she felt his underlying sadness.
“The one thing I wouldn’t let them do was tell me how to parent. That was all Stefano. At first, I thought my parents were going to come out of that room and at least talk to the boys, but after a year with no word, I knew they weren’t. When they did open the doors and they acted like robots, I went to Stefano to learn what I could from him.”
Amaranthe studied his face. His mask was firmly in place. “You’re still angry.”
He sighed and nodded, a slow, deliberate nod that had her heart clenching for him. She wanted to cover his hand with hers. Do something, anything, to comfort him. She just didn’t know how.
“I wish I weren’t angry at them. I thought they’d give me advice. Something. Anything. But they didn’t. At least they would talk to Salvatore and Lucca like they loved them. But they didn’t do that, either. They turned into strangers. Salvatore kept trying with them. He would go to Mama every day, but he got nothing back. I remember the day he came out of their suite and he was different, all the joy in him gone.”
Geno sank back in his chair and ran both hands through his hair. It was one of the first signs of agitation she’d seen him make. He was normally very self-assured.
“Stefano has always been the man willing to make the hard decisions. You can count on him, but he tempers that with compassion. He has a temper, but he’s all about discipline and control. He puts his family, the riders and territory first. He embodies what a leader should be.”
Amaranthe waited to hear him out before she protested. Geno clearly didn’t feel he was up to his cousin’s standards.
“I knew someday I would inherit the responsibilities from my father and mother, but I thought Salvatore or Lucca were better suited. Truthfully, if I wasn’t built the way I am, I could have seen myself doing the kind of work you do. I think when the Archambaults were training me, a time or two Jean-Claude may have even discussed something like that with them.”
“Why do you think that?”
“They looked at Salvatore and Lucca, asking a lot of questions about the two of them leading the Ferraro shadow riders here if I were gone. It was the way they asked. I didn’t know anything about the kind of work you do, but I had the feeling they were considering separating us. I made it clear that wasn’t going to happen.”
“Why? You must have realized that was your only opportunity to get out.”
His fingers toyed with the crystal glass. Sure. Steady. She realized when he came to a decision, he had studied the problem from every angle. His brain worked at a high rate of speed. He might seem to come to a conclusion fast, but his decisions weren’t without thought.
“My brothers didn’t need me to abandon them the way my parents did. I’m not like Stefano. I knew that going into it, and I sat Salvatore and Lucca down and told them so. I told them I’d be making mistakes, but that I’d do the best I could. That I’d keep them safe, and every decision I’d make was with their happiness and safety in mind. I wanted them to know we were a family, and I wanted their input. We would work things out together, but in the end, I’d have to make the tough choices. I promised them I wasn’t going anywhere.”
Amaranthe knew right then her heart was in jeopardy if she stayed around Geno too long. He might seem as tough as nails, but his heart wasn’t. He might think he wasn’t like Stefano Ferraro, but when it came to his family and what he would sacrifice for them, he was.
“That’s why you’re so close.”
“We’re close,” he acknowledged. “They aren’t very happy with me at the moment.”
“Did they forgive your parents?”
“I don’t know. They talked to them more than I did. I treated them as greeters, members of the team. I made certain they had everything they needed, but I didn’t give them any personal information. Not ever. Not on me and not on my brothers. Whether Salvatore and Lucca did, I don’t know. I didn’t ask. I figured that was their private business.”
He removed his dark glasses, and she felt the impact of his deep blue eyes staring straight into hers. “I am not a forgiving man, Amara. When someone hurts a member of my famiglia, I don’t forgive. Salvatore and Lucca were boys. My parents took something beautiful from them, and if they felt remorse, I never saw it, so no, I didn’t forgive them.”