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)
On the drive back to the estate after the two had stopped at her favorite food truck, Frankie finished a vanilla milkshake while she stared at him from the next seat over.
“What?” he asked her, tired of the silence.
“You went to Elmswood?”
“For six months. It took a judge, a couple of lawyers, and a lot of fucking money to get me out of there.”
She snorted. “Really?”
“Yeah.”
“It took me two phone calls where I just cried to my dad.”
The facility meant for troubled youth who came from especially privileged backgrounds dealt with everything from rebellious behavior to mental health issues. They also continued a teenager’s education while within the facilities walls.
“My dad didn’t care how much I hated it, or that I was there,” Nico admitted, keeping his eyes on the road.
Frankie reached over with cold fingers to tuck a strand of hair behind his ear. “You burnt someone’s car on a school day? In the school’s parking lot?”
He scowled. “The idiot almost got me busted for drugs all because I wouldn’t keep selling to him. He thought it was funny to spike people with acid as like an initiation type shit, and I just—”
“Hey,” she said softly.
Nico glanced her way.
“It’s okay.”
“I reacted. It wasn’t an appropriate response to the situation given I wasn’t ready to accept the consequences. Elmswood did teach me something. Alongside a list of medication and diagnoses I never cared for.”
“Like what?”
“Standard shit, mostly, considering my life up until that point. PTSD. Depression, some anxiety. Separation issues. They tracked my ADHD almost the second I walked through the door. Apparently borderline traits. I never agreed with that one. Just because I give it my all when someone deserves it, and I don’t react well when they prove me wrong or leave, doesn’t give me BPD. My stint there did get my juvenile record scrubbed and it allowed me back into the school system so I could get a diploma.”
There, he’d laid some of it out. Let her make of it what she wanted. Nico hated the way his stomach twisted at the thought she might pull away now.
She didn’t.
Her hand found his on the shifting gear, and she cupped his hand in hers. A soft press of her lips found the skin between his thumb and pointer finger.
“I’m not gonna do that, just so you know.”
Nico cleared his throat. “Do what?”
“Prove you wrong. Or leave. I won’t do those things.”
He wanted to believe her.
Life just didn’t work that way for Nico.
“So, did you ever go to your own prom?”
“Nope.”
“Did you walk in graduation?” she asked.
He shook his head at that one.
Nico squeezed her hand when she frowned at his answers. “Hey, none of that. I didn’t give a shit back then, even if I was allowed.”
“But you cared to go to mine?”
“I cared to go with you.”
That earned him another one of her brilliant smiles. And a kiss. A kiss that almost had them swerving on the road. He didn’t know entirely why, but as she sat back down into the passenger seat, and he eyed her from the driver’s side, Nico knew...
He’d go damn hard for this girl.
Straight to hell, if he needed to.
10. — everyone pays...
Staten Island, New York
Salvatore, Russo Estate
Salvatore’s phone dinged as he crossed the cobblestone driveway of the Russo family home. He couldn’t give Larkin’s reply to his earlier question more than a cursory glance as a black-haired, green-eyed girl tossed aside her tablet the second she laid eyes on him.
“Mister Gallo! Mister Gallo!”
The pride and joy of the Russo family skipped from the bottom step of the front door to meet Salvatore on his way to the house. She beamed a perfect smile up at him, practically blinding him with her happiness. She looked so much like Nico the two could be twins, if not for the obvious age difference. Even their dimples matched. An inherited trait. Just not from their father.
She never changed, that one. Happy from the day she came into the world. Loved by everyone who had the fortune of knowing her. Carmen Russo wanted for nothing.
“I haven’t seen you in...forever!” she proclaimed.
To a child, a couple of months could feel like years. He’d learned that with his own daughter.
“Sorry, I’ve been busy.” He patted the top of her head, smoothing down the stray black strands that flew every which way in the light breeze. Eleven going on twelve, she looked more like eight or nine given her small stature and tiny voice. “But guess who I talked to recently?”
“Who?” Carmen asked.
Salvatore smiled. “Nico.”
Her squeal echoed over the manicured yard. “No!”
“Yep.”
There wasn’t a soul on earth that loved Nico more than his little sister and vice versa
“But...but...but Mama said—”
“Mama said what, now?” came a new voice joining the fray.
Salvatore passed the woman leaning against the railing of the front steps a nod hello. She returned it subtly, but her focus remained on the girl bouncing on the spot in front of him.