Total pages in book: 99
Estimated words: 96170 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 481(@200wpm)___ 385(@250wpm)___ 321(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 96170 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 481(@200wpm)___ 385(@250wpm)___ 321(@300wpm)
“How did you find out?”
“Luca told me last night.” I hesitate, staring at myself bleakly in the mirror. Bags hang under my eyes. I barely slept. “He’s the one who did it.”
Elisa’s quiet for a moment. “That’s pretty fucked up.”
“I know.”
“How did it happen?”
I tell her what I know, which isn’t much. “He says he was defending himself. But I don’t know if I believe him.”
“I honestly can’t believe this. Tommy’s dead.” She sniffles like she’s fighting tears. “I didn’t even like him.”
“He was a total asshole.”
“Seriously. I used to fantasize about drowning him.”
“Really? You did?” My eyebrows raise and I can’t help but smile. “You wanted to hurt someone? I didn’t know you had it in you.”
“He was such a dick to me. I’m not that much of a pushover, you know.”
“I know that.” I lean against the bathroom counter and glance toward the bed. Luca’s side is empty. It’s been empty since before sunrise. He woke without saying anything, dressed, and disappeared. He hasn’t been back since, and I don’t know where he’s gone.
Probably out to kill more of my family.
“Is there going to be a funeral? Are you going to go? I guess that’s a stupid question. I mean, your husband killed him. Does this mean Uncle Corrado is going to war or something?”
I shake my head, even though she can’t see me. I open my mouth to answer, but a sudden, sick feeling comes over me. I get all clammy and nauseous as sweat rolls down my back.
My family’s falling apart. I can’t even go to my own cousin’s funeral because my husband murdered him. Trucks filled with drugs are burning in the street, and my father’s dying. Raf’s going to be Don. I’m married to a stranger. I don’t even know—
“I have to go,” I croak and toss the phone aside.
I run to the toilet and barely make it in time to get sick.
Ugly bile burns my throat and my stomach contracts hard enough to hurt my ribs. I retch for way too long, but when it’s finally done, I collapse back against the wall, breathing hard and drenched in more sweat. The nausea’s gone as fast as it appeared, but I don’t understand what just happened.
Panic, probably. Fear over the thought of my family crumbling to pieces. I married Luca and sacrificed myself so that the Serrano Famiglia might survive, and now it seems like that wasn’t enough.
I don’t know what to do. I feel so helpless.
When I finally get to my feet and teeter over to grab my phone, I realize Elisa’s still on the other end. “You didn’t hang up?” I croak, running the water. I swish and spit some out.
“I heard you puking. Are you okay?”
“Fine. You know me. Tough as nails.”
She sounds concerned. “You don’t have to be, you know. You’re going through a lot. Some people tried to kill you, and there’s your marriage, and now Tommy—”
“I’m fine, Elisa, I promise.” I hesitate, glancing at myself in the mirror. I’m definitely not fine. “Listen, I’ve been thinking. You know, about my plan.”
She’s quiet for a moment. When she speaks, her voice is very soft. “You still want to run away?”
“I’m going no matter what, but I need you to come too. They’ll try to marry you off next. You know that, right? I won’t let that happen to you.”
“Fio, this is crazy. Dad will just hunt us down.”
“Dad’s dying,” I snap at her and instantly regret it. I can picture her face cringing in sadness. “Sorry. I shouldn’t have said that. It’s just, Dad’s going to be gone. Raf will be in charge, and he loves us, but—”
“Raf’s not Dad,” she whispers.
“Dad babies you. He always has. But Raf won’t.” I don’t mention Dad using Elisa to blackmail me into this little marriage. “Give me a few more weeks. Maybe a month tops. Then we’re out of here.”
“This is crazy.”
“I know. I’ll come up with specifics. But we can do this, okay? We don’t have to live like this anymore.” I look at the bed again. At the rumpled half where Luca was sleeping. Where his warm, gorgeous body was the night before, as I was lying there listening to his slow, steady breathing.
“We’ll talk about it later. I should go.”
“Yeah, okay.”
“You’re sure you’re okay though? The whole puking thing?”
“Just stress. Honestly, I’m fine.”
“You’re such a shitty liar.”
“Love you.”
“You too.”
We hang up. I splash water in my face. I have no clue why I got so sick, but it seems to have passed at least. I close my eyes and can feel Luca’s hands on my body, his hard cock like iron against my back, the soft grunts of pleasure as he made me come, the dripping need in his eyes as he watched me lick my own pussy from his fingers.