Total pages in book: 110
Estimated words: 102335 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 512(@200wpm)___ 409(@250wpm)___ 341(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 102335 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 512(@200wpm)___ 409(@250wpm)___ 341(@300wpm)
“Wicked!” Ruby yells, and I finally whip my head around to look at her.
Her green eyes are wide on me, her little mouth slightly open. She has an angular jaw and high cheekbones, and a natural golden glow to her skin. Her usual siren-shaped eyes look wider than usual, worry etched into her features.
“Whatever it is, I can handle it!”
I drive us onto the highway that takes us to the outskirts of Chicago. I need to be off this motorway if I want to go the speeds I need to go to get to Poppy in time.
“We’re not who you think we are.” As soon as the words leave my mouth, I want to snatch them back. “Poppy and I?” I squeeze the leather steering wheel. “We are not who you think we are.”
“And who are you?” Ruby asks, her tone gentle.
“You’re about to find out.” I reach for my phone, hitting call on the number that was texting me.
Three rings and the phone clicks over. “One can hope you have made the right decision.”
I place my phone in my lap, ignoring Ruby. “Things have changed.”
Silence, and I know that these are dangerous words to speak while he has Poppy. “Mmhmm, I figured so. Which is why I have my security sitting all safe here.”
I watch as the little hand on the speedometer falls over to one hundred. “You didn’t tell me I was Italian.”
“Well, you were raised here, but yes, your biological father was Italian.” My eyes slam closed. “And yes, you are from a line of very powerful men in the Cosa Nostra. I’m guessing La Rosa made you? Smart motherfucker that one is.”
I clear my throat.
“What the fuck is going on?” Ruby’s tone drops. “You piece of shit. I swear to fuck if you’re working with the cops, I’ll kill you myself!”
Just when I think she’s nothing like her father and all her mother, she says some gang shit like that.
I turn to face her, my lip curled. “First of all, shut the fuck up. The day I walk on that side of the law is the day you can take my nuts—”
She raises a perfectly arched brow. “I would take more than that.” And there it is. The little mafia princess finally looking more like what she should.
I smirk at her but go back to the road. “Not just that.”
“The girl?” he adds, and before I can say anything, I feel the temperature in the car drop. Her fear is intoxicating. It’s like she left a trail of it wherever she ran, but only I could sense it.
“Yeah—she’s hot.” My smirk deepens, and I see her head whip toward me in the corner of my eye. “And she’s got a tight little pussy.”
“Fuck you!” she screams, and I choke on a laugh as I move the phone away from her.
“She’s got a mouth as dirty as she fucks, but here’s the deal…” I add, leaning away from her so she doesn’t kill us both. “I can’t kill her, or her father. As much as I promised this transaction, there are things you left out telling me too, like who I am, and the fact that I have the affiliations that I do. You promised our freedom for her, you didn’t say anything about Victor…”
“Where are you taking me?” Her fight dies out as she leans her head on the window. I watch as she follows the lights that pass us on the road, reading every sign we go by.
I bare my teeth, cranking my neck. “I’ll do the transaction because I promised, but you gotta leave Victor out of it. That’ll be too messy. It’s bad enough you’re taking Ruby.” She’s silent now, and just when I think he’s not going to respond, he clears his throat. “See you in the morning.”
Then the line goes dead. We have a four-hour drive ahead of us, and that’s a whole lot of time put between her and me… and what could happen between now and then. I need to figure out a way that I don’t blow this whole fucking shit up.
She wants me to be a lost little pet for her papa, but she doesn’t know that I’m the wolf who would find her.
It feels as though time has been suspended in the air for the past three hours. I haven’t spoken another word to Wicked, because as much as I want to know what the hell is happening, I’m smart enough to know not to waste my breath. If he wanted to tell me, he would have by now. Me acting a fool and demanding answers that I know I’m not going to get sounds exhausting. I thought I knew who he was, who Poppy was, but I’m beginning to feel like maybe I didn’t. That my papa let a snake into our home, and now we are going to pay for it for years to come.