Total pages in book: 101
Estimated words: 96808 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 484(@200wpm)___ 387(@250wpm)___ 323(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 96808 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 484(@200wpm)___ 387(@250wpm)___ 323(@300wpm)
“Hi,” she says.
“How you doing?” I nod.
“Oh, you have an accent. Jersey or New York?”
I scoff. The nerve. While I have a shit ton of family in Jersey, New York is where I was born and raised.
Brooklyn has been my stomping grounds for as long as I can remember.
“New York,” I say as if it should have been obvious.
“Are you on vacation or do you live here now?”
My phone rings, grabbing my attention. I’m not mad about the interruption at all. I’ve lost interest and my thoughts were already turning back to Oni.
Fuck, I’ve got it bad. In three years, Oni is going to be a smoke show. She’s already fire. Smart, pretty, talented, and ready to ride or die.
That shit last night turned me on so much. She was ready to bag a body for me. That’s the type of woman you need in this life.
“Hello,” I say into the phone as I pick up and walk away from the chick from the treadmill, leaving her with her mouth flapping.
As she calls asshole after me, I shrug it off and laugh. She’s all but forgotten. I’m not one to fall all over some chick. I’m pretty sure I’m not the first guy to dismiss her so easily.
“Hey, are you mad at me?”
“Oni?”
“Yeah, my phone died. Mario let me use his.”
“What makes you think I’m mad at you?”
I bite my tongue before I can call her baby or sweetheart. I wish she were here so I could look into her eyes. There’s something in them that pulls you into her spell.
The determination, the wit, and the constant look of acknowledgment. As if she’s absorbing everything and learning every second.
“I haven’t seen you today. You sent me shopping with the silent bodyguard and … I didn’t come back last night. I thought maybe I pissed you off,” she says.
“And …”
“My uncle said he’s coming to pick me up. You’re sending me home.”
“What?” I roar as I freeze in my tracks.
“Before my phone died, he sent me a text. You changed your mind? You don’t want me to work for you anymore? Is it because of last night? I went to call my mom—”
“Oni, you’re not going back. I didn’t give any such order. I don’t know what the fuck your uncle is talking about, but you better be in my house when I get back,” I say harsher than I mean to.
“Oh, maybe I misunderstood. We’re almost back to the house. Once I charge my phone, I can call Uncle Claude and find out what’s going on.”
“Do nothing. I will get to the bottom of this,” I say and hang up.
I have a feeling I already know what’s going on here. I’m not the only one who can see I have a young and beautiful girl under my roof. A girl who would be mine to choose.
My uncle and I get along for the most part. He’s always been like my second dad. However, about two months ago, he informed me of an arranged marriage I have no intention of taking part in.
Oni’s uncle made an agreement with me and my pop. The only way he would try to renege on that is if my uncle got involved. Oni is a threat to him.
Any woman I show interest in is a threat until I agree to this marriage. Well, my uncle can call on an army because I’m not agreeing to that shit, no matter what. It’s a power play.
He doesn’t even like the Abato family. Juliana Abato is a whiny, entitled bitch. One hour in a room with her and I was ready to blow my own brains out.
Apparently, we used to play together or something as kids. Now her father and my uncle think we’re a match. If anything will keep me from being don, it will be this arrangement.
However, I never lose. I always get what I want. I’m not about to allow some stupid arranged marriage to get in my way.
“Hello, I’ll get my niece out of your hair within the hour. I’m on my way,” Claude Raven answers the phone.
“Why the hell would you do that? I told you I have a project I need her for. I have already been paid six million for a single contract. Are you trying to make me look bad?”
“No. What the hell is going on? I got a call this morning that I should pick her up and send her back home, that her debt has been taken care of,” Claude says tightly.
“That call didn’t come from me or anyone under me. I’m almost a hundred percent it didn’t come from my pop either.”
“What have you gotten my niece into? The call came from Emilio himself. My brother’s baby girl is now on that man’s radar, Rico. What the fuck?”