Total pages in book: 77
Estimated words: 77126 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 386(@200wpm)___ 309(@250wpm)___ 257(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 77126 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 386(@200wpm)___ 309(@250wpm)___ 257(@300wpm)
She drops her jaw. “Then who’s your mother?” Then she gasps. “Oh my God…”
I nod. “Right. My mother is my mother. I’m a product of incest, Raven. And I don’t blame you for being disgusted. I know I am.”
“Oh, Vinnie.” She wraps her arms around me. “I’m not disgusted. Not by you. Maybe by how you came about, but that’s not your fault.”
“You should know that I’ve talked to a DNA expert and to my personal physician. They say that because I don’t have any genetic abnormalities from inbreeding that any children of mine probably won’t either. But there’s always a possibility, Raven. You need to go into this with your eyes open.”
She steps back. “This is… This is…”
God. I can’t lose her. Not after everything we’ve been through to be together.
But I’ll let her go if I have to.
If this is a dealbreaker for her, she certainly won’t be able to handle all the other skeletons in my closet as they reveal themselves.
I’ve already let her go once, to keep her safe while I was taking down the family business.
“I understand if you want to break it off,” I say quietly.
Then she lunges toward me. “No! I’m not leaving. I don’t even know if I’ll be able to have children after all the poison that’s been pumped into my body. But if I can, Vinnie, I want to have your children. And however they come out, they’ll be perfect and we’ll love them.”
And in that moment, the room gets a little brighter. Maybe the sun is peering out from behind a cloud, or maybe Raven is just that fucking radiant.
I crush my lips to hers in a devouring kiss.
“God, I love you,” I say against her lips.
“And I love you.”
I break away for just a moment to retrieve the ring from my desk. Then I drop to my knee in front of her, opening the black velvet box. “Be my wife, Raven. Make me the happiest man in the world.”
She holds out her left hand, a single tear streaming down her cheek. “Absolutely, Vinnie. There’s not a doubt in my mind.”
I slide the ring on her finger and kiss her again until she jerks backward.
“You okay?” I ask.
“Yeah.” She giggles. “It’s just my phone. It’s buzzing in my pocket because I have it on silent. I’ll ignore it.”
“It’s okay,” I say. “It could be important.”
She nods and retrieves her phone, looks at it, and her eyes go wide.
“What is it?” I ask.
She swallows. “It’s my mom in the group text. My father. He’s awake.”