Total pages in book: 109
Estimated words: 127476 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 637(@200wpm)___ 510(@250wpm)___ 425(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 127476 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 637(@200wpm)___ 510(@250wpm)___ 425(@300wpm)
Ray.
He gets out from the back of the limo, holding the door open after him for Brandy, apparently trailing along yet again. Ray shuts the door after she steps out, his gaze shifting my way, eyes meeting mine. He looks as if he's going to walk away, to let the fact that I've avoided him slide, until he takes a look at my passenger seat and his expression shifts.
Shit.
Ray hesitates, his arm around Brandy, his focus going from Karissa back to me. Leaning over, he whispers something into his girlfriend's ear, her face perking up when she looks at my car. She starts waving frantically, excitedly. I just sit there. From the corner of my eye, I see Karissa offering them a slight wave.
That's the only invitation the blonde needs.
Brandy rushes over to the car, motioning for Karissa to put down the window, but she doesn't move. Begrudgingly, I lower it for her, my eyes fixed on Ray as the man slowly strolls over to join his girlfriend.
Brandy starts rambling, endless, pointless chatter. Hey! What are you doing? How are you doing? Where are you going? Karissa stammers through answers, offering what little she can, what little she knows, as Ray stiffly nods to me. "Vitale."
I return his nod, not saying anything.
"Ray and I were just going to grab something to eat," Brandy says. "You guys should have lunch with us. What do you say?" Before either of us can respond, she turns to Ray, grasping his arm, a hopeful look on her face. "What do you think, Ray?"
"I don't know, Baby Doll." He lets out a deep sigh, eyes fixed squarely on my face. "I'm sure Vitale has better things to do today."
I still say nothing.
It's a test; I'm sure of it. A test as to whether or not I'll prioritize him, if I'll put the man who's like a father to me, the organization that made me a wealthy man, a family that saved my skin time and time again, above everything else going on in my life.
I want to.
I should.
Even when I had nothing, when everything good had been torn away, leaving a gaping void of blackness, one thing persevered: my loyalty. I dedicated what was left of me, every last fiber of my being, to the man in front of me, to honor his bloodline, to make right how they were wronged.
I should park the car right now, get out and go have lunch with the man who picked me up when I hit bottom, who gave me purpose to keep on living. I don't go to church, I don't even know if I believe in a just God, but I always believed in Raymond Angelo.
He was my savior.
But now I'm starting to lose faith in him, too.
Tempted by the evil beside me, the original sin… my forbidden fruit. I took a bite of her on a whim and realized, despite what the world led me to believe, she wasn't rotten to the core. He wants me to toss her aside, throw her away, let her decay into the ground where he thinks she's meant to be, but I'm not sure anything else could ever sustain me.
I drank from the Holy Grail.
He's not taking that away.
My gaze shifts from Ray to Karissa, who sits quietly beside me, hands folded in her lap. As deep as my loyalty runs to the Angelo family, something brews even deeper, something so strong it momentarily startles me.
The love I have for this woman.
A woman who's finally giving me the time of day again.
I look back at Ray, and I still say nothing, but I don't have to. He sees it in my eyes. I know he does, because I see it in his, too. I see the sense of betrayal he's starting to feel, chipping away at our allegiance.
"Another time then," Ray says, taking a step back, pulling Brandy with him before she can object. "Do what you gotta do, Vitale."
I watch as he backs up, serious eyes fixed on me for a moment, before he finally turns around. Sighing deeply, I close my eyes as I shake my head, before brushing it off. I can feel the tension in my muscles, tension him retreating won't ease.
I should've gone with him.
I should've picked loyalty.
But I couldn't, not this time.
I failed his test.
"Where to now?" I ask Karissa, reopening my eyes. "Anymore suggestions?"
She sighs, slowing putting up her window. "How about somewhere where nobody knows either of us?"
"I think we'll be hard pressed to find a place like that in New York."
The stock ticker scrolls by along the top of the laptop screen as I jot down a few ideas on a scrap piece of paper. I'm trying to pay attention, to riddle out a potential new scheme to get Ray off my ass, to try to placate the man, but movement in my peripheral keeps distracting me.
Karissa has abandoned her usual seat in the den, opting to scour the shelves near me instead. She pulls books off, glancing at their covers, flipping through the pages before shoving them back on. Sometimes in the same spot, other times wherever they'll fit.
I had them alphabetically ordered.
I'm trying not to be irritated by it.
My gaze flickers toward her, breathing a sigh of relief when she bypasses War & Peace without even hesitating. She ultimately settles on something further down the room, clutching it to her chest as she turns away from the bookshelves. Catching my eye, she smiles before strolling past me, her gaze flitting to the computer screen.
She tends to mind her own business, but what little she sees is clearly not what she expected.
Her footsteps falter as she looks back at me. "Do you have a portfolio?"
"A portfolio?"
"Yeah, you know, an investment portfolio. That's what it's called, right? When you buy stocks and stuff?"
"Uh, yeah, it is. You learn about that from Melody?"
"Pfft, no, what would she know about that stuff?"
"Well, her father's an investment banker, isn't he?"
She stares at me, blinking a few times as she considers my question, but she doesn't answer it. She doesn't have to.