Total pages in book: 163
Estimated words: 163540 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 818(@200wpm)___ 654(@250wpm)___ 545(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 163540 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 818(@200wpm)___ 654(@250wpm)___ 545(@300wpm)
I’ve been putting it off for a week, but now I need to know. I dig out the pharmacy paper bag from my luggage and I read the box.
First Response Pregnancy Test
I’m on the pill. I know it can’t be positive, but for some reason I have this weird gut feeling that I am.
I mean, I did miss a pill or two a few weeks back, but I took double the next day, and I’ve always done that before with no consequences.
I study the instructions and then go and pee on the stick. I sit on the bathroom counter while I wait.
I wait.
And I wait…
And I wait.
Before my very eyes, one line appears… and then a second faint line appears not so long after.
Hmm, that’s interesting.
I frown. What does that mean? I snatch the instructions up and read them again.
Two lines indicates a positive result.
My mouth falls open in shock.
What the fuck? I’m pregnant.
Enrico
I’m livid.
Never in my life have I ever been so angry.
One of our girls has been found in a back ally in Sicily, dead.
Beaten, and then strangled—the name Lucky Lombardi carved into her face.
How fucking dare he?
She did not deserve to die like this. His fight is with me, not her. His name carved in her face is for my benefit. He wants a war, and he just got one.
“You find where he is?” I growl as I get off the plane.
“We have a location,” Sergio replies. “He’s in a bar on the South Side.”
I clench my jaw as I imagine what the girl’s family are about to go through. A new wave of anger ravages through me. “Take me to him.” I pat my suit pocket and feel the heavy weight of my gun.
“We can’t go there unmanned.”
Nobody touches a Ferrara girl… nobody.
“Then get the men,” I reply flatly.
Twenty minutes later, the car pulls to a halt in a parking lot outside a bar, and I get out of the car on autopilot.
We are in a seedy part of Sicily. The bar is loud, but the rest of the streets are quiet.
What kind of man does that to an innocent woman?
I walk across the cobblestone street to the bar. It’s been raining and the ground shimmers with the afterglow. The sound of my feet crunches on the hard surface.
I have ten men with me now, and I’m here for blood.
His blood.
I open the door and walk into the bar. The musicians instantly stop playing, and everyone falls quiet. They stop and stare. I walk in, and my shoes creak on the wooden floorboards.
I look around at the patrons. It’s filled with men of many ages. They know who I am, and it tells me a lot.
“Where is Lucky Lombardi?” I ask loudly—calmly.
Silence.
“Give him to me… or write your own death certificate.”
They all stay deathly still.
I grab the closest man to me. “Where is he?” I ask as I give him a shake. “I speak the truth. Anyone who hides him from me will meet their maker today.”
One weaker man points to the backdoor of the bar. “He left,” he says softly, his eyes darting the door.
“Check the bathrooms,” I tell Sergio.
I hope to fuck he’s in there so I can kill the fucker with my bare hands.
We walk back out the front door and into the parking lot. I look around, my ten men beside me.
The parking lot is dark and eerily. I can see no movement.
He’s hiding…
“Mr. Lombardi!” I call. “Show your cowardly face.”
Silence.
My men and I exchange looks.
“Get out here!” I yell.
I hear a phone ringing in the distance and we all glance at one another. The phone keeps ringing and we look over to see it’s coming from a payphone on the corner of the street.
Sergio goes and answers it. “Hello.”
His eyes glance up and over to me before he holds the phone out. “It’s for you.”
My eyes scan the roads and buildings around us. Is this a set up?
I take the phone from Sergio.
“Hello, Enrico,” a husky male voice sneers. “Looking for me?”
“Show your face.”
He laughs out loud. I narrow my eyes as I look around at the buildings surrounding us. He’s here somewhere. I can feel him watching us.
“You will get out of Sicily and hand me possession of all the brothels, or you will face the consequences.”
I smile at his stupidity. “Or, what?”
“Or I’m making a visit to House of Valentino.”
What?
My blood runs cold.
“And your blonde… Olivia Reynolds…will pay for your stupidity on the end of my knife.” He laughs out loud. “I’m going to chop her up into tiny pieces and fry her bones.” He laughs again, a sick and twisted sound. It echoes through my brain causing a shock wave through my system.
Then… the phone goes dead.
28
Enrico
Anger surges throughout my body and I turn to my men.
“Kill him.” I squeeze the phone in my hand so hard, I’m certain it will break. “Kill anyone who stands in your way. I want him dead. I want them all fucking dead!” I growl, I turn and storm to the cars. I jump into the driver’s seat, and the men scramble behind me to keep up.