Total pages in book: 38
Estimated words: 35213 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 176(@200wpm)___ 141(@250wpm)___ 117(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 35213 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 176(@200wpm)___ 141(@250wpm)___ 117(@300wpm)
"I want to kill him." I shrug. "But since that's bound to cause problems, this is the next best thing."
"Not necessarily."
I whip my head in Rafe's direction, pinning him with a death glare.
"I'm not suggesting we turn her over to him, brother," he says, holding his hands up. "We don't use women to get what we want. I'm just suggesting that there might be a better way to solve this problem."
"Like what?" I growl.
"Using him as a shield," Rafe says. "If we own him, we own the police department. Any investigation into us will be stonewalled before it even gets off the ground."
"And he gets away with murder."
Luca snorts. "He spends the rest of his life on his fucking knees, licking our boots and praying to God we don't decide to release those records and destroy his perfect little world. Every crime he commits for us is one more charge he'll face if he ever tries to double-cross us. He lives in fear for the rest of his life, knowing we can send his whole house of cards crashing at any moment. Seems a lot more like justice to me than three hots and a cot."
"He hurt her," I growl, the one sin he's committed that's unforgivable to me. He hurt her. Frightened her. Touched what didn't belong to him. She's been running for a year because of him, afraid of what he'd do if he got his hands on her. She watched him kill her father. He deserves to pay for that, as brutally and painfully as possible.
"Occhio per occhio," Rafe says. An eye for an eye. That's our way. That's the code we live by. You fuck us, we fuck you back. You make us bleed, and the streets run red with your blood. You touch what doesn't belong to you, and we cut off your fucking hand. It's old school mafia code, but it's effective. It instills fear…and fear teaches people that we aren't to be trifled with.
I've always hated that code. But maybe there is a place for it in this world, after all.
Chapter Nine
Genesis
"Hey!" I squeak in protest, grabbing for the door handle as Gabriel stomps into the bedroom and lifts me off my feet. He doesn't even say anything. He just hauls me into his arms with a grunt. "What are you doing?"
"Putting you where you belong," he growls, turning on his heel and stomping right back out again. Only, he takes me with him. The floor vibrates under his bare feet as he strides down the hall and then into his room next door. He tosses me toward the massive bed in the center of the room.
I land with an indignant squawk, slapping hair out of my face.
"You're sleeping with me, piccola fiamma."
"No, I'm not."
"Yeah, you are." He kicks the bedroom door closed before stalking toward me like a hungry lion. "This is where you sleep from now on."
"Says who?" I don't know why I can't ever just do what he says. It’s not like I even want to sleep next door. It didn't work out so well for me last night. I don't think it worked out very well for him either. But he gets bossy, and I get mouthy. There's a direct correlation between the two.
"Says me."
"Maybe I don't want to sleep with you, Gabriel."
"Maybe you're full of shit, tesoro."
Arguing with him really shouldn't be foreplay. I don't think that's normal. But then again, nothing about us is normal. Nothing about us should work. Nothing about us makes sense. But I'm crazy about this man.
He makes me crazy.
"Or maybe you're just a bossy, rude, arrogant son of a…" I dive off the side of the bed, preparing to run for my life. I don't even make it two steps before he's on top of me, wrestling me into his arms. He drags me back down to the bed with pitiful ease.
"Finish it," he growls, pinning me beneath him with my hands locked over my head. "What am I, tesoro?"
"A jerk."
"That's not what you were going to say. Finish it." He rakes my shirt up my body, leaving a trail of fire in his wake. "Tell me what I am."
"An asshole."
"Try again, piccola fiamma."
I knee him in the thigh before he manages to subdue me again. He bites me as punishment, sending lava flowing through my veins. God help me, I love it. But I don't tell him that. Of course I don't. I bite him instead, sinking my teeth into his shoulder.
"Fuck!" he roars, bucking his hips. "Do that again and you won't be able to sit down tomorrow, Genesis."
Naturally, I do it again.
He growls a string of curses, flipping me onto my stomach. His hand comes down on my ass in a hard smack.
I sob in ecstasy.
"Don't fucking bite me, little girl," he growls against my ear.