Total pages in book: 75
Estimated words: 73302 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 367(@200wpm)___ 293(@250wpm)___ 244(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 73302 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 367(@200wpm)___ 293(@250wpm)___ 244(@300wpm)
I frowned. “You think I’m doing a good job?”
Dante huffed. “Of course I do.”
“Zach said that too.”
“What? That you were doing a good job?”
“Yeah, that too, but he said I read people well.”
Dante tilted his head. “Interesting.”
I tried to draw in a deep breath, but my lungs felt constricted. I didn’t want to think about all the ways Zach had convinced me he cared, but I couldn’t stop myself. “He bandaged my hand. He wouldn’t let me do anything with it. He kept fussing over me, and I thought…”
“That meant he cared.”
I nodded.
“What else?”
“He stepped in front of the blade when he was going to kill me. He watched me torture the guy last night and smiled. He didn’t try to stop me or tell me he couldn’t be part of that or anything. He said I was fine just as I am.”
“Mmhmm. Now, tell me about times when he showed a different side—when you thought he might be lying to you.”
I thought back over the time we spent together. “At first, I thought he only wanted a way into my top game so he could cheat his way to a lot of money.”
“Before you knew he was FBI?”
I nodded.
“And after you found out? What about then?”
I closed my eyes and thought. How was I supposed to sort out my real feelings from the fear that he’d lied to me about everything? “I wasn’t scared. I never really thought he’d move against me or the family.”
“Why?”
“Fuck, Dante, I can’t answer all these questions. This isn’t some university class.”
“You can find the answers. You can read Zach like a book. I know you can. What does your gut tell you? Not your fear or the pain you’re feeling.”
“I’m afraid.”
Dante ran a hand over my hair. “Love is scary. It’s okay to be afraid.”
“I’m more afraid of being the fool everyone thinks I am.”
“Rafe, nobody thinks—”
I scowled at him. “Yes, they do.”
He shook his head as he caught my face in his hands. “No. We tease you. You’re our baby brother. And sometimes you act like an ass, but we don’t actually think… God, Rafe. We love you.”
“I know that, but you don’t think I’m capable.”
“I do. I think you’re capable of running the casino. I think you’re capable of falling in love. And I think you’re capable of figuring out what Zach’s real motive is. Aside from that, what does your gut tell you?”
I kept thinking about the way he’d pulled me away from the car. The way he was so tender. The way he was determined to take care of me. “Fuck. I think I screwed up. I need to go talk to him. But I also need to talk to Remington. There’s so much to do.”
Dante pulled me into a hug. “Go talk to Zach. Call me when you’re done. I’ll fill in Lorenzo and Remington.”
“No, that’s my job. You shouldn’t have to do things for me. I’m a grown-up.”
“Yes, you are, but I’m doing this because I care about you. You’d do it for me. You were scared for your life when you rescued me last year. You came to get me and made me walk out of Ivanov’s house when I didn’t think I could get off the floor.”
“I wasn’t going to leave you there to die, Dante.”
“I know. You’d never do that. And I’d never leave you to hurt either.”
We held each other tight for a few more seconds. When he let go of me, I brushed tears from my eyes and stood up.
“Go talk to him,” Dante said. “If he’s the one, you’ll figure it out.”
I hurried out the door, knowing if I let myself think too much, I’d talk myself out of what I needed to do.
33
ZACH
Icouldn’t believe how badly I’d fucked everything up with Rafe. I should have been listening more carefully for him to wake up. I should have gone outside to take the call or said I’d have to call back later, no matter how far up the chain the asshole went. Maria had called, warning me I was about to be interrogated, and I’d wanted to get it over with. Why the fuck didn’t I realize Rafe was standing there, that he was listening? I could’ve paused the call and explained that I had to say some things that weren’t true. Or I could have hung up. I was going to resign anyway.
There were so many ways I could’ve stopped this disaster from happening, but I was a fucking idiot, and now Rafe thought I was playing him the whole time. He thought none of our time together was real, that I saw him as no more than a fool who would give me what I wanted. He already thought no one appreciated what he was capable of, and instead of convincing him otherwise, I just proved his point.