Total pages in book: 102
Estimated words: 98583 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 493(@200wpm)___ 394(@250wpm)___ 329(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 98583 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 493(@200wpm)___ 394(@250wpm)___ 329(@300wpm)
It’s terrifying and exhilarating. I’ve never been this important to someone before, and I don’t know how to behave.
All I can do is lean closer to him as he holds me in his arms.
Then Adriano bursts out into the night. He sprints forward like I’m nothing. Wind whips through my hair as he careens down the front steps past the astonished onlookers. Ahead, a town car is parked against the curb, and he heads straight for it. Once the door’s open and I’m unceremoniously dumped inside, he gets around to the front and climbs behind the wheel, pausing only to let Luca get in the passenger seat and for Bianca to get in beside me.
“Hold on,” Adriano says and peels out. “Bianca, radio back to the venue. Now that Lucy’s safe, tell our men to help with the evacuation.”
“Got it,” she mutters and relays the message into her headset. Then she takes it off. “A car bomb wasn’t part of my itinerary.”
It’s such an absurd thing to say that I can’t help but laugh.
I burst out laughing. I double over, laughing so hard that tears roll down my cheeks, and I realize I’m sobbing too.
Bianca rubs my back. Adriano stares ahead, driving through the quiet Philadelphia streets.
Chapter 11
Adriano
“Istink like smoke.” Lucy stands in my bedroom at the Marino Mansion and stares around with a stunned look on her face. She’s still in shock and not fully functioning yet.
“Take a shower.” I steer her toward the big, marble-filled bathroom. “Take a bath if you want. I’ll have Bianca bring you some clothes.”
She looks down at herself. She’s still in her wedding dress. “I don’t have any of my things.”
“We’ll get them tomorrow. For now, I need to make sure this isn’t part of a larger attack. You’ll be safe here, do you understand? Take a shower and hang tight. Don’t leave my room.”
“Right. Your room.” She blinks rapidly and shakes her head. “This is where you live?”
“Welcome home.” I gently nudge her to the bathroom. “Get moving, wife.”
She does as commanded, as if on autopilot. I think she’d do jumping jacks if I told her to. Eventually, the adrenaline hangover will clear, and she’ll be thinking clearly again, but for now, I need to be gentle with her.
I find Bianca downstairs in the great room, glued to her phone. “It’s all over the news,” she says, looking up.
“Do me a favor. Lucy needs something to wear. Can you help her out? She’s showering in my room.”
“Right, of course. Happy to help.” Bianca’s laugh is quiet and disbelieving. “They’re calling it a terrorist attack.”
“It wasn’t.”
“How do you know?”
“Because it was a message. Please, Bianca. Before she’s finished.”
My sister quietly leaves. I start sending out messages to my most important and trusted Capos, calling them to the house. Then I check the news to confirm what Bianca said.
So far, the local sites all think it was some kind of attack on the city. The police are out in force, making sure nothing else happens.
But it won’t. Unless it happens here.
“I got the guys you asked for,” Luca says, coming into the room. He’s wearing body armor and holding a rifle. “Twenty men, all kitted up.”
“Make a perimeter around the house. I don’t want anyone getting anywhere near this place without eyes on them, understand?”
“I hear you.”
“A few of the Capos are coming. Send them straight to me when they show up.”
“What’s going on right now? You know something you’re not saying.”
“All I have are guesses.” I share a look with him. “Did you hear from Carmie?”
“Lev and her got out fine. Seems like most of the guests are okay. Our boys took care of them.”
“Good. The fucking rumors are going to be hell.” I pace across the room to a small bar in the corner. I pour myself a stiff drink. “Get ahead of it. I want to make sure nobody blames our family for what happened.”
“What should we say?”
“Terrorism, just like the news thinks.”
“But that’s not true.”
“It is for now. Start spreading the word.”
Luca nods and turns away. I watch him walk out, feeling the weight of the family on my shoulders.
Every single important person in Philadelphia was at that wedding. Half of them are going to hate me and my organization for putting them in danger, and the other half are going to be too afraid to care either way. I’m going to lose business because of this mess.
And that’s exactly what Gray Wolf wanted.
I’m furious by the time my top Capos begin arriving. Frank Molinari is first, a grizzled, older veteran of a dozen street fights, with gray hair and a craggy face. He shows up with Vittorio Esposito, only thirty-five, my youngest Capo and the first man I promoted to the position. He’s a ruthless killer and one of the most feared men in the city. Marco Calabrese comes in after, mid-fifties; he manages the family’s money laundering activities.