Total pages in book: 100
Estimated words: 95013 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 475(@200wpm)___ 380(@250wpm)___ 317(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 95013 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 475(@200wpm)___ 380(@250wpm)___ 317(@300wpm)
Knowing I did my job and did it well took away a layer of rage.
“So let’s not worry about her anymore. I’m sure she’s embarrassed about the whole thing now.”
“She should be.” This made me realize that Aurelia wouldn’t care about my predicament with Tommaso and the lunch date I’d had with his daughter Gina. She wasn’t the jealous type. Wasn’t insecure. Trusted me even though her last relationship had been a dumpster fire of lies and deceit. I wanted to put it off for another day, but since today was already shitty, I decided I’d like to start off tomorrow on a different foot. “Since we’re on this subject, there’s something else I’ve got to tell you.”
“All right,” she said calmly, the beautiful angles of her face on display with her hair up in a tight ponytail like that. There was no fear in her eyes, like she wasn’t afraid of what I might say.
“It’s a really long fucking story, but I made a deal with Tommaso years ago . . . and I had to fulfill my end of the bargain recently.”
“Okay. What does that mean?”
“Basically, he said he would only help me save my brother from Darius if I agreed to consider marrying his eldest daughter Gina.”
Her reaction wasn’t the same as it’d been with Isabella. Now, she stiffened, focused her hard eyes on my face. “I don’t understand.”
“When I went to Palermo to visit and inform him of my retirement, he asked me to join Cosa Nostra and asked me to keep my end of the deal. Because he wants me to run Cosa Nostra when he’s killed or lives long enough to step aside, and I’d be the perfect partner for his daughter.”
Her eyebrow arched, and she looked as irritated by this as I felt.
“Yes, I know it’s the most ridiculous thing you’ve ever heard. I felt the same way.”
“Where is this going, Constantine?”
“He asked me to have dinner with Gina—”
“And did you?”
“No. I told him I was in a committed relationship. Then I told him we’re having a baby. Told him we’re getting married. But since I’m not engaged, that wasn’t good enough. He continued to push and I pushed back, but then he made me feel like shit because he risked his life to help me . . . and I lied to him.”
“How did you lie?”
I lowered my voice so my mother wouldn’t overhear. “I’d told him I didn’t know why Darius wanted Edric dead, but I knew exactly why. So Tommaso and his men could all have been killed that night. He probably wouldn’t have helped me if he’d known the truth. So, he had me by the balls.”
Aurelia continued to stare at me, her arms tight over her chest.
“No matter how many times I told him I’ve settled down, he said he wanted me to meet her. So the last time I went up there to tell him that we’re going to open a restaurant here and I wouldn’t be returning to Cosa Nostra, he asked me to have lunch with her.”
“And did you?” Her tone was different, on the edge of hysteria.
I knew I was fucked, but I told the truth. “Yes.”
“What?”
“It was an hour long on the terrace at headquarters. I could tell she was bewildered by the whole thing too—”
“You went?” She shifted her weight, looking a lot like my mother when she was this mad.
“It was literally just a lunch. Basically a business meeting. I only did it to get Tommaso off my back and keep my word—”
“You went on a date with another woman, Constantine.”
“It was not a date. It was awkward as fuck.”
She stepped away from me and moved to the counter on the other side of the kitchen, arms still crossed, putting distance between us.
I’d never seen her react this way before. “Sweetheart, Isabella telling me she loves me and kissing me is a hell of a lot worse.”
“When did this happen?”
“Yesterday.”
She raised her voice like she didn’t care if my mother heard all of this. “How would you feel if I went on a date with some guy because my old boss made me promise to do so? That even if it meant nothing to me, I still went?”
I wouldn’t like it one fucking bit, but I didn’t dare say that.
“That to keep my word, I had to consider marrying him . . .”
“I didn’t actually consider it. I just did it to pay my debt, and it’s done now. I’ll never see her again. She doesn’t have my number, and I don’t have hers. I’m telling you, it was just an awkward and weird lunch.”
“Did you tell her about me?”
“Well . . . no.”
Her eyes were furious.
“Because if she told Tommaso, he might make me see her again or some nonsense. I just wanted to get it over with so it would be done.”