Total pages in book: 157
Estimated words: 154525 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 773(@200wpm)___ 618(@250wpm)___ 515(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 154525 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 773(@200wpm)___ 618(@250wpm)___ 515(@300wpm)
“I hear you’re a serious contender for Team USA in the future. Summer Olympics are in Los Angeles in a couple of years; you’ll probably play. You’ve got your choice of Ivy League schools. God knows your father treated you like precious glass your whole life. I bet he never once told you no, did he? And that’s who you want,” Giorgio pressed, nodding at Nico without even looking at him.
If her smile could melt metal, it would. “Aren’t you going to ask him why he wants me, too?” she asked in a murmur. “Fair is fair, I mean.”
Salvatore’s brow lifted higher, but he said nothing.
Nico’s arm tightened around Frankie’s waist, a silent warning.
Giorgio, on the other hand, just laughed and gave her another good look. “No, sweetheart, I don’t need to. Those reasons are obvious. I can see exactly why he wants you.”
At that, the man glanced back at Salvatore.
“You’re right, though, they do make a good pair.”
“I know—I told you.”
“Should have told me months ago. Here he sat at my table telling me week after week they weren’t serious.”
“Serious is a matter of opinion, not heart,” Salvatore returned easily. “Sometimes that changes before we even realize ourselves.”
“Hmm. Well, when is the date?”
Nico breathed a little easier. Frankie glared at the man in the chair but fixed her attitude when he squeezed her side again.
“They haven’t picked one yet,” Salvatore informed.
Giorgio nodded, and his attention came back to his son and Frankie. “You’ll have to let Carmen know. She likes this one a lot, Nico. Never shuts up about her.”
“Tell me what? I just went to the bathroom, what did I miss!”
The sudden shout from behind Nico was just the distraction they all needed. Carmen had a way of saving the day without even knowing she’d done so. As he turned around to drop to one knee and catch his little sister in a hug that swallowed her whole, he realized Vanna stood a couple of feet behind her. As usual, the two wore coordinating colors for their gowns, a deep velvet green.
“Are we celebrating something?” Vanna asked them.
“Yes, they’re engaged,” replied his father. “Apparently.”
He still sounded...too curious.
Nico tried to ignore what that might mean.
“Does that mean you’re getting married?” Carmen demanded, pulling at Nico’s lapels hard enough to nearly make him lose his balance. “Does it?”
“It does,” Frankie laughed out. “I think we might need a flower girl.”
Carmen, still holding her brother, stared up at Frankie with her wide green eyes sparkling. “You’re so beautiful.”
“Yeah,” Nico agreed, “she really is, huh?”
25. — you’re mine, homicide...
Staten Island, New York
Salvatore, Russo Estate
“They’re young,” Giorgio mused.
Still standing at the boss’s side, where Salvatore would unfortunately remain unless and until dismissed, he took note of the man’s attention that continued lingering on the couple of the hour as time passed. A good three hours into the Christmas party, and Giorgio wouldn’t let it go.
A leg crossed over his knee; his thumb and finger pressed to his cheek as he observed Nico and Frankie dancing a room over from their current spot near the decorated fireplace crackling in the sitting room. Giorgio only moved to watch them.
“Too young, I think,” the boss continued. “Eighteen and nineteen, that’s too young.”
“Weren’t you barely twenty when you married your first wife?”
“We’re not discussing me,” Giorgio snarled under his breath. “I do what I want to do—I am the boss.”
He wasn’t when he married her.
Salvatore tried a different route. “No one said they’re rushing down the aisle. It’s just...a formal step.”
“To what end?”
“Hmm?”
Giorgio glanced up at him, dark eyes searching. “To what end would the next step be getting married at eighteen and nineteen? I can only think of a couple; none good.”
“He’ll be twenty in a couple of weeks or so.”
“Hmm.”
Salvatore tried not to roll his eyes, and seriously wished Giorgio would just let it go. But no, like a dog on the hunt, the man swore he found a bone. He would not be letting go until he dug the bone straight out of the body to which it belonged.
“I asked for them to wait until she turned twenty, anyway,” Salvatore lied, hoping it would end the issue.
Those two would be married before his grandchild came into the world. In no universe would someone feel permitted to call that baby a bastard because the parents lacked wedding rings and a legal document.
“Did you now?” Giorgio questioned.
“Well—”
“What does Carina think of...this business?” Giorgio cut in, unwilling to bend. Ever.
“She doesn’t have an opinion; she left before the engagement became official, anyway,” Salvatore lied easily.
He didn’t like liars; didn’t like being one. That’s what Giorgio made him, though. A liar.
“Yes, that does seem to be a cycle with the two of you, doesn’t it?”
Salvatore eyed the man in the chair; grateful he couldn’t be seen doing so. “What does that mean?”