Total pages in book: 58
Estimated words: 57028 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 285(@200wpm)___ 228(@250wpm)___ 190(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 57028 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 285(@200wpm)___ 228(@250wpm)___ 190(@300wpm)
She’s crawling across the earth, gasping. Her eyes are wide with terror. For a moment, it’s like she doesn’t recognize me. Civilians think they’re prepared to see true violence, but they rarely are. She should’ve listened, but I don’t blame her. She thought she needed to see her tormentor fall.
“Clean this up,” I roar at Rafe. “And delete that video from his phone. Take it to someone who can see if there are copies.”
“You got it.”
“I’m getting her someplace safe.”
“Go, Dom–we’ll handle this.”
I kneel and scoop my arms under Evie, cradling her back and tucking my other arm under her knees. Unlike the first time I carried her, she doesn’t struggle this time. She throws her arms around me, pressing her face against my chest.
Running across the cemetery, I make for the back of the van, stunned when I find my father sitting on the other side of it, his hands clasped, looking at me with that same surprising emotion on his face.
“Is it done?” he asks.
Evie wriggles from my grasp and slumps against the edge of the van, breathing hard, shaking all over as tears slide down her cheeks. “He—he—he said that he… he kuh-killed Mom. I wuh-wanted to suh-see…”
“She’s having a panic attack, poor thing,” Father mutters.
His empathy catches me by surprise again, but I haven’t got time to analyze it. I kneel in front of Evie, taking both her hands. She was there for me when the night terror woke me, and I’m going to be here for her now.
“Evie, your first job is to breathe as slowly as you can,” I say, meeting her eye. “I’m going to count your breaths with you. Try to be slow, okay, beautiful? Try to make your breaths last to a three count, in and out. That will help slow your heartbeat. With me–one, two, three…”
It takes a few tries, but slowly, she paces her breathing. She presses firmly into my hands.
“I should’ve listened to you,” she says after a pause. She turns to my father. “How’s this for strong, Mr. Russo?”
My father’s soft smile makes him look like a different man, one I don’t remember from my childhood. “The fact you’re able to speak after a panic attack like that means you’re strong, Evie. Don’t beat yourself up.”
Evie bites her lip and looks at me. “Mason said he was driving the car when Mom died. He bragged about it. Do you think he was telling the truth?”
“Perhaps–or maybe he was just trying to hurt you. He’s dead now, Evie. It doesn’t make any difference.”
“I shouldn’t have looked,” she murmurs. “I thought it’d be like the movies, but it was… How do you live with that, Dom? With that in your head? With countless memories of that?”
“Don’t worry about me,” I tell her fervently. “This is about you. I’m taking you back to the estate. Rafe and Tash are going to meet us there. We’ll lie low until we’re sure The Vultures have backed off.”
“Without Mason, they won’t keep this up,” she whispers.
“If they do, I’ll kill them all,” I snarl. “All they had was the video. That was the only thing stopping me from ending their miserable lives. If they flee into the cave systems again, I’ll hire the best security forces money can buy and hunt them down. Nothing will stop me now.”
When I feel Father looking at me with pride, I glance at him. “This means nothing. I’m not a mafioso just because I’m willing to do anything to keep my woman safe.”
“I didn’t say that.”
“But you were thinking it.”
“Don’t fight,” Evie murmurs, and that defuses the tension immediately.
After all she’s been through, she’s still had the voice of reason.
“What are you doing here, Father?” I ask, my tone softer.
“I had to make sure you were safe. My son. My future daughter-in-law.”
I remember what Evie said about love–or, more accurately, didn’t say. “Don’t jump the gun. It’s early days. The last thing Evie needs right now is pressure.”
He holds his hands up. “My apologies.”
Evie smiles at me, gratefully, regretfully, her expression clashing. She’s been through too much for me to press her for answers now.
She needs peace and support. I sit beside her as the van bumps up and down, wrapping my arm around her and pulling her in for a hug.
“Thank you,” she murmurs.
“What for?”
She laughs darkly. “Not missing.”
When this started, I never thought the five of us would sit around a table: me, Evie, Tash, Rafe, and my father. We sip lemonade as the fire flickering in the grate lights up the night, Meatball reclining on the cat tree nearest to the flames, lazily licking his paw.
Rafe and Tash hold hands, Rafe looking more peaceful than I can ever remember seeing him, like a man who’s ready to leave behind the darkness of his old life and find something new.