Total pages in book: 32
Estimated words: 30264 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 151(@200wpm)___ 121(@250wpm)___ 101(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 30264 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 151(@200wpm)___ 121(@250wpm)___ 101(@300wpm)
“Come on,” someone shouts. I stand there paralyzed for a second. Maybe I’m hallucinating or in shock or something, but I swear I recognize a few of the dead men on the ground. That can’t be right. “Boss!”
“Got to move,” Antonio says before he’s lifting me off my feet. He jogs toward a waiting car, shoving me into the back. “Get her out of here.” He starts to shut the door.
“I’m not leaving you,” the man who called him boss says. If he’s Antonio’s right hand, I believe his name is Gilly.
“Get her out of here,” he orders again.
“Please don’t leave me.” The words are past my lips before I can comprehend what I’m saying. To my utter surprise, he actually gets in the car. I scramble to the other side to make room for him. I wince as I do it, my side aching now with each breath I take.
The vehicle takes off a second later. Gilly floors it down the road. “What the fuck was that?” he shouts from the front seat.
“Not now,” Antonio responds. He sounds so calm, but I can tell he’s anything but. “Let me.”
I glance down. He tries to take the gun that I’m still holding tightly in my hand.
“Or you can keep it if it makes you feel safe,” he offers. I release my hold on it.
“What the fuck was that?” I ask the same question Gilly did earlier.
“Are you hurt?” Antonio's hands start to roam, checking me over.
“It’s not my blood,” I say absently. “I feel numb.”
“It’s shock.” Antonio's hand grazes my ribs. I let out a small cry as the pain shoots through my body. Spots begin dancing in my eyes. “Angel, look at me,” Antonio orders, sounding far away.
“Was she hit?”
“I don’t know.” Antonio yanks at my dress. The sound of the material ripping pulls me back for a moment.
“Don’t.” I smack at his hands. “Don’t touch me!” My hand connects with his cheek. “Oh God.”
I just nearly escaped death only to slam myself right back into it.
5
ANTONIO
I’m more stunned by the bruises on her side than the smack to my face.
“Oh my God.” She covers her mouth with her hand and winces back.
“Who did this?” I skim my fingers along her skin.
“What?” She’s still flinching away from me.
“Who put these marks on you?” I can barely contain my rage, my entire body going even tenser than it already was.
“But I … I hit you.”
“The wind hits harder, angel. Tell me who hurt you.”
“Boss, I think we’re in the clear, but I’m not taking any chances.” Gilly pulls off the highway and onto side streets, cutting this way and that to lose any tail that might be on us.
“My father. I mouthed off to him.”
The rage turns to molten lava coursing through my blood. That fucking bastard put his hands on her, hit my bride. He’s a dead man.
“Come.” I rise and sit on the backseat, broken glass crunching beneath me as I pull her into my lap.
She holds her ripped dress together, her eyes huge as she looks at me. “Are you going to hurt me?”
“Never.”
I raise my hand to her cheek.
She flinches again.
“Never, angel.” I gently press my palm to her cheek, her skin warm beneath mine. “And I will kill anyone who touches you.”
Her breath catches. “Is this a trick?”
“No trick. I protect what’s mine, angel.”
Her face falls.
“What’s–”
“Boss!” Gilly calls.
“What?” I keep my eyes on Angelica.
“Got a message from Bartholomew. They did a drive-by on our front gate, but no one was hurt. We returned fire, killed a few of them, but the driver still managed to get away before we could catch them.”
I grit my teeth.
“Did you recognize the assholes back there?” He hitches a thumb over his shoulder. “Because I did.”
“I did, too,” Angelica says softly. “One of them was on my father’s security team. He usually hung out at the back door by the pool. I remember his face.”
“Two of them were definitely at the wedding. I saw them in the crowd.” Gilly glances at me in the rearview. “This wasn’t a coincidence.”
“No.” I don’t believe in coincidences. “Your father married you off to me, then tried to take me out. He and another family, I would guess. But which one?”
“Why would he do that?” Tears well in her eyes. “Why would he want me dead?”
“Not you, angel. Me.” I think Constantine would’ve sacrificed her to get to his goal, though. If it meant he had access to my holdings, he’d have no problem letting his pathetic soldiers shoot his daughter. The fact that he would touch her in anger, would wreak violence on her–he’s a son of a bitch.
“But we just got married. I thought he wanted our families joined. He made me marry you.” Her tone turns from sad to seething. “I never wanted to marry anyone, and he’s the one who said I had to. When I told him no, he beat me. But his intention the whole time was to kill you?”