Total pages in book: 105
Estimated words: 101101 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 506(@200wpm)___ 404(@250wpm)___ 337(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 101101 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 506(@200wpm)___ 404(@250wpm)___ 337(@300wpm)
“Daniil will be joining you,” Dominick states. “And before you argue, since you claim you’re not the one fucking with our business, that means there’s someone out to get my family. I don’t give a fuck if they kill you, but Brielle needs to always be protected.”
I remember him asking if I was messing with them when I showed up at the baby shower.
“And you don’t have a clue who it is?” I ask. “Possibly the mayor?”
“What do you know about the mayor?” Dominick accuses.
“Only that my brother was in contact with him.”
“Which one?” Dominick quirks a brow.
“Enrique is the only brother I have.”
“You mean had,” Brielle retorts, “since the piece of shit is dead.”
“Regardless,” I say, “Anthony never knew we existed. My father made sure to keep our families separated, knowing Anthony was a ticking time bomb.”
“So, Enrique was working with the mayor?” Dominick confirms.
“He didn’t keep me abreast of his plans since he knew I was against them, but I saw him talking to the mayor a couple of times.”
“The mayor doesn’t have the balls to execute the shit this person has done. Kidnapping Daniella, fucking with our shipments,” Dominick notes. “They stole a pharmaceutical shipment and switched it out with drugs to frame Ilan Cohen.”
I whistle and shake my head. “Ilan is not a man you want to burn bridges with.”
“You know him?” Dominick asks.
“My company is an investor in Cohen Health.”
He nods in understanding.
“Anything else they’ve done?” I ask.
“Why do you care?” Dominick crosses his arms over his chest.
“Seeing as my plan hinges on Brielle not dying …”
“Can’t mess with the human incubator,” Brielle grumbles under her breath. “Can we go now? I’d like to get this over with.”
I’d like to continue this conversation with Dominick—I haven’t gotten the company to where it’s at without doing my due diligence—but if we don’t leave now, we’ll be late for our dinner reservation.
“She needs to be home by midnight,” Dominick says, making me bark out a laugh.
“You do realize she’s twenty-seven, right?”
“Dominick, it’s fine,” she says with a sigh. “We’re just going to dinner, and then he’s dropping me off.”
“How much?” Dominick asks.
“What?” I scoff in confusion because there’s no way he’s—
“How much to end this bullshit?”
“I don’t need your money.” I chuckle humorlessly. “If you’ve done your research, you know I’m worth millions, my company billions. I’ve spent the past six years reviving my father’s legacy. This”—I nod toward Brielle—“is about righting wrongs. The waterfront expansion, the marriage, the heir.” I glance at my future wife, who’s scowling my way. “The day Giuseppe shot my father and damn near killed my mother and you cut my family out, I vowed to get what was owed to my family. My father had gone along with your father’s bullshit for years because the business was his entire world, only to be fucked over in the end. Nothing but death will stop me from getting what’s owed to my father, and even then”—I grin like a Cheshire cat, knowing it’ll piss Dominick off—“I won’t stop.”
“There’s no point in going rounds,” Brielle says. “Let’s get this dinner over with. I have an early morning Pilates class.”
I catch a whiff of vanilla as she saunters past me. It’s the same scent she wore the other night, and immediately, my cock swells as flashbacks of our night together hit me. The way she took control. The taste of her cunt …
I don’t give a shit what the Antonovs offer—that woman is mine.
“I’m surprised you didn’t take me to the country club,” Brielle says as the hostess guides us to our table with Daniil following.
I assumed he wasn’t joining us, until I noticed we were being followed and Brielle noted that he went everywhere she went.
“It’s the most public place in Harbor Point.”
“I’m sick of eating their food,” I admit.
We’re at a popular seafood restaurant called The Brown Pelican. It’s downtown, on the water, and since it’s a nice night, we’re sitting outside. The restaurant is packed, and as we were walking through, I could feel several eyes on us. Brielle might not have anything to do with her family’s business from what I’ve seen, but she’s still the infamous, unattainable Antonov princess. Aside from that dickhead Theodore DeSantis, she has no history of dating anyone in Harbor Point. And since they only just broke up, us going out is going to get people talking, which is what I want. My association with the Antonovs and Russos will open doors.
At least, that’s what I tell myself as I pull out Brielle’s chair. Wanting her has nothing to do with the fact that I have been with countless women who bored the fuck out of me. But one night with her, and I’ve been fiending for her pussy like a goddamn drug addict. It’s about taking from the Antonovs. That’s it. Nothing more, nothing less.