Total pages in book: 59
Estimated words: 54092 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 270(@200wpm)___ 216(@250wpm)___ 180(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 54092 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 270(@200wpm)___ 216(@250wpm)___ 180(@300wpm)
"Rafe, I–"
"Boss."
Amalia freezes as soon as Domani's apologetic voice sounds behind me. Whatever she was about to say slips away, the moment gone. I groan, burying my face in her hair. I've never wanted to kill someone as badly as I want to kill Domani Brambilla in this moment.
"What?" I growl, pretty fucking certain he just ruined her telling me that she's in love with me. Suddenly, her dislike of Carmine doesn't seem so suspicious considering that I suddenly, and very greatly, dislike Domani.
"Luca's here," he says. "He says you two have a meeting in Whiting. He's waiting in the Bentayga."
"Shit. The board meeting."
"Board meeting?" Amalia pulls back to blink wide eyes at me.
"One of our companies," I mutter, glancing at my watch. The last thing I want to deal with right now is a board meeting. They piss me off on a good day. Today is not one of those. I don't have the patience nor the time.
"Oh. I forgot you're a fancy-pants businessman too."
Domani coughs into his hand to hide a smile.
"I'm a lot of things, tesoro. I don't think anyone would call me a fancy-pants businessman," I say, shaking my head at her. Fuck, she's cute.
"Oh, that's right," she says, snapping her fingers. "They prefer MILF."
"MILF?"
"Mmhmm," she hums, pure mischief in her mocha eyes. "I believe it stands for Mafioso I'd like to fu–"
I cut her off with my mouth on hers, swallowing her laughter.
Chapter Eight
Amalia
"Dammit," I whisper, nudging the bottom drawer of Rafe's desk closed with my foot. For a mafia boss, his desk is ridiculously boring. And meticulously arranged. I take a moment to rearrange everything on top, smiling to myself. I bet it'll drive him nuts when he sees it. He probably has to have everything in a very specific order, or it throws his whole system off.
He's so…I'm not sure there is a word for him, honestly. He's a dichotomy of extremes. He's the sun, scorching hot, able to burn you to ash with a single glance. He's also the Boomerang Nebula, colder even than space, able to freeze you solid in a nanosecond. There's nothing simple about him. He's fierce. And beautiful. And kind. And affectionate. And a million wonderful things that make my heart race and my knees weak.
I never stood a chance against him. I'm so in love with him it's terrifying. Literally. I feel like we're balancing on razor-wire. One wrong move, and we all fall down. How do I sacrifice Rafe to save Diego? How do I save Diego if it means sacrificing Rafe? I can't. I can't. Somehow, there has to be a way to nudge them off the tracks before they collide.
I pull open the top drawer of the desk and peek inside, hoping some solution might have magically appeared since I last looked. The contents of the drawer are as useless as they were three minutes ago.
"Looking for something?"
I startle in my chair, my gaze flying to the door. Carmine's leaning against the doorjamb, watching me with a smirk on his face. It seems calculated and sinister to me. He's been looking at me the same way all day. It's driving me nuts. It's like he knows something I don't.
I snuck into the office an hour ago to escape him in the first place. Rafe's been gone all day, and the longer Carmine stares at me, the more unsettled I feel. I tried to read but couldn't focus with his eyes on me, making my skin crawl. I tried watching television with the same results. I trooped up and down the stairs, exploring every room in the house.
"Yeah, the number to 911," I mutter sarcastically. "Do you happen to know it?"
"I'll make you a deal," he says, poking his head out into the hall. He glances both ways and then steps into Rafe's office with me, closing the door behind him. My heartbeat instantly goes into overdrive, warning bells sounding like gongs in my head. "You tell me what you're really looking for in his desk, and I won't tell him who you really are."
"Open the door," I say, my voice shaking. I slide Rafe's desk chair back, climbing to my feet. Instead of moving away from the desk, I stay close, ready to grab the letter opener in case I need a weapon. Whatever he's doing in here, well, I'm guessing he didn't come to chat over tea and cookies. He cornered me for a reason.
"I'm not going to hurt you, Serafina."
"That's not my name."
His smirk grows. "Are you sure about that?"
"My name is Amalia."
"Liar," he says, leaning back against the door, arms crossed over his chest. "I did some digging into you. Amalia Santiago didn't exist until the day Alvise Butera adopted you. I wasn't sure how that was possible, so I asked around. Name changes are part of the adoption process."