Total pages in book: 63
Estimated words: 62569 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 313(@200wpm)___ 250(@250wpm)___ 209(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 62569 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 313(@200wpm)___ 250(@250wpm)___ 209(@300wpm)
“Might sprain a tongue.” I added.
He rolled his eyes. “Something’s wrong with you.”
“I know.” I set the remote down. “I’m going to shower,” I mumbled, mostly to escape the weight in my chest.
Ace stood immediately, all hard lines and unreadable expression, wow, right back to square one where tin man forgot he had a heart.
“I’ll go first.” His tone left no room for debate. “I need to check the perimeter anyway.”
“You do that,” I muttered. “Take the celery with you, maybe it'll cleanse your soul.”
“Souls are for people who sleep.” He was already walking away. “Don’t open any doors.”
I held up my hands. “No promises if it’s pizza.”
"Even if it’s pizza.” He turned and pointed at me. “Trust no one.”
"I changed my mind. You should shower, you smell.”
Amazing.
But I’d never tell him that.
He always seemed to smell good no matter what he did, but he was the type of guy that was extremely unaware of how he affected the people around him. Or maybe he was aware, but he just didn’t care. People always stared in order to gain his attention or they whispered about him, but he never seemed to care enough to respond.
Maybe he really was like a eunuch.
He could use his equipment but felt no pleasure from it, meaning he was pretty much the safest person to have around me since he’d never take advantage of me. Maybe that was my dad’s plan all along.
He’d trusted Louis because he was good at his job but also because he was older so my dad didn’t see him as a threat to his daughter’s delicate sensibilities.
When I looked up, Ace had left and I was alone again with the sound of the TV in the background. I tried to find joy in it but as soon as Ace was gone, as soon as I was isolated or felt isolated, my thoughts turned dark.
What was the point?
Was this part of my grief? Constantly battling between severe depression, darkness, and anger? And wondering what the future held? Things were bad before Louis was taken from me, and now it just felt pointless.
Dark.
What if the pizza guy came?
What if he came for me?
I’d be missed.
But did the world really need one more mafia princess?
Did it?
I swallowed the lump in my throat.
Being strong was exhausting, just like forcing a smile when your muscles refused to move.
I leaned back against the couch and stared at the TV. I adjusted the way I was sitting, tucking my feet under me when I saw a movement in the screen.
Was someone behind me in the kitchen?
I waited. Nothing happened.
“Ace?” I called.
The light sound of the shower still filled the air, plus, he wouldn’t sneak around behind me just to scare me.
The alarms were still on weren’t they? I would have heard someone walk in. I think I would have, at least.
I reached under the couch for the knife I knew Ace kept there and brought it under the blanket I was sitting with.
I sent a SOS to Ace’s phone hoping he showered with his watch on. The scent of lavender drifted past.
What?
Body wash? Perfume?
Then—arms wrapped around me.
I was dragged backward over the couch, slammed to the floor.
I kicked. Hard. Mask. Hat. No face.
“Get off me!”
They straddled me. Gun to my forehead.
I rolled us. Kicked again.
Knife. Thigh. Slash.
Blood.
I threw a chair.
“RAVEN!” Ace’s voice.
I rushed the attacker, too slow.
A kick swept my legs—
I hit the ground hard.
I wasn’t fighting for my life.
I was fighting for someone else’s.
“Are you hurt?” Ace knelt beside me, water dripping from his hair onto my arm.
“Are you naked?” I blinked up at him. “And afraid?”
“You hit your head.”
“You’re real.”
“You’re delirious.”
I glanced down at his nakedness getting more of a clear view. “Huh, one does wonder
“What? One wonders what?”
God, my head was spinning. “Just wondering how you’d get the peanut butter off that without a serious tongue cramp.”
I laughed at my own joke and promptly faded into the darkness.
11
ACE
Touch the dial and die. Volume is for losers.
Ican hear the TV from my room downstairs; it’s loud enough to wake the neighbors, and I need to be listening for more intruders. I’m still confused how they got by my security unless they knew how to get in or had an inside person.
More mysteries.
Couldn’t wait.
I wondered how much caffeine I’d need in order to put up with this for the foreseeable future. People would always be out to hunt the five families—but this felt different, this felt like a threat from the inside, and why her of all people?
They could have attempted to attack anyone. Dante might be a powerful boss, but going after him meant going after the entire Alfero and Abandonato family, not to mention the rest.
We knew we had a few plants within the families—but we allowed it so that those who thought they were smarter only got the intel they thought they needed. Then we used that same information against them. It worked for us, and it was always smarter to keep some of the more intense enemies closer.