Total pages in book: 206
Estimated words: 192184 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 961(@200wpm)___ 769(@250wpm)___ 641(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 192184 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 961(@200wpm)___ 769(@250wpm)___ 641(@300wpm)
After we left the airport he said, “I wanted a minute to talk to you.”
I looked at him expectantly, but a little frightened because I had a feeling he was about to berate me for taking off on Tommy, for starting the chain of events that led to Mexico. I decided to cut him off at the pass.
“Thank you for being so nice to me under the circumstances.”
“The circumstances?” He looked at me strangely.
“You know, since all this happened because I took off. You might not believe this, but I hope and pray nothing happens to your brother because of it, because of me. I also wanted to tell you both, I didn’t get a chance to mention it to Tommy, but they told me that if I didn’t cooperate, they could easily take your pregnant sister. Maybe she needs someone to watch, needs some security.”
His jaw clenched. Then he furrowed his brows and shook his head. “Don’t do that. This isn’t your fault. Our family is under threat of some sort almost all the time. We go on living as normal because we need to in order to stay sane but believe this: this would’ve happened anyway, even if you hadn’t taken off from my sister. Earl was part of the plan and Tommy trusted him. He was Tommy’s number one for security for you, so was the perfect person for the enemy to get to flip. Either he was planning this for a long time or that plan went into motion because he was allowed to be so close to you and it would’ve been pulled off sooner or later. The minute word got around that Tommy was getting married, that trigger got pulled. We’ve got extra security, don’t you worry. And I didn’t plan to talk to you about this part, but don’t worry about my brother getting hurt; my brother is indestructible. Trust me, he’ll be back tonight or tomorrow at the latest. He’ll hurry back for you. I wanted to talk to you about his feelings for you.”
I looked down at my hands.
“I know you were forced into the engagement. I also know that for some reason my brother fell head over heels almost instantly. I’m not saying ‘for some reason’ because I don’t think you’re a catch, you’re a beautiful girl, but this isn’t Tommy. He has access to an unlimited supply of beautiful girls who want him, who’d give their eye teeth to be engaged to him, knowing full well who he is and wanting the lifestyle that comes with it. I’m telling you he’s different with you. I know my brother might not seem like the relationship type, and looking at the damage you did to his face I don’t think you took too well to your situation.” He laughed. “He will never live that down by the way, thank you.”
I grimaced.
“Sorry, very inappropriate. My point is that I know my brother can be a hard ass, but I hope you’ll give things a chance with him because I think you could be good for him. Real good.”
We were pulling into the driveway of Tommy’s house already. The gate opened to let us in and when we stopped, I saw the SUV behind us. There were four guards stationed at the gates.
“Thank you,” I said. “I’m, uh, hopeful. Things feel different.”
“Good. He is different. I’ve never seen him that affected by something. All he wanted was to get you out of there. We wouldn’t normally negotiate in a situation like that,” he added and looked at me with seriousness in his eyes.
I nodded, the gravity sinking in even deeper as he confirmed what I already suspected, that Tommy normally wouldn’t have negotiated with kidnappers. If Tommy had just seen me as ‘property’ maybe I wouldn’t have been deemed worthy enough to have made it out of there. He could’ve replaced me easily. I’d been thinking a lot about that.
“He did not stop until he got you out of there. He barely ate or slept and was hell on wheels until he got you back. Tommy has a short fuse; he needs to work on that. I hope…I hope he does. For you. Try to be patient. You should know he’ll kill for you. I wouldn’t normally say this to anybody but given the situation I think I can tell you this and maybe it’ll give you some insight into who my brother is. He’s killing for you right now, Tia; I’m sure of it. If this were my father instead of Tommy, Pop would’ve sent someone to do it for him. But my brother? Tommy will do it himself.”
I shook my head. “I know it was probably a direct hit to his pride to have his so-called fiancée–”
Dario cut me off. “Uh uh. Nope. This was more about you than about pride. I’m telling you, you’re not so-called. He’s all in.”