Total pages in book: 80
Estimated words: 78076 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 390(@200wpm)___ 312(@250wpm)___ 260(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 78076 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 390(@200wpm)___ 312(@250wpm)___ 260(@300wpm)
Bleu sat beside me in the car. “How do you want to play this?”
“Leonardo will try to kill me.”
He pressed his fingers to his ear as he listened to the guys on the radio. “Our shooters say he has men positioned in some of the windows.”
“Take them out.” My guys would sneak into the buildings and knock them out cold.
“We’ll be ready to take down Leonardo.”
“When I deny Laura, it’ll be a shootout. The only way to keep his business and his legacy will be to put me in the ground.” If I killed her father, Laura and I would truly be done. There would be no going back after that. “Make sure the men get Laura out of there safely.”
Bleu gave a nod in confirmation.
The cars stopped, and the headlights went dark.
“Showtime.” I stepped out of the car, and that was when the rest of my men followed suit. A flurry of doors opened and closed, and Leonardo and his men mimicked our movements. In my leather jacket and boots, I approached the no-man’s-land between us, the statue of David watching on in horror.
Both sides approached the middle, illuminated by the lampposts spaced around the sidewalks. The other statues stared on, stone-faced, watching the late-night throwdown. I walked up to Leonardo and stopped feet away.
Victor and Lucas were there. Lucas kept his vicious eyes focused on me, probably still wearing the gauze underneath his clothes. Other men were stationed there, sporting their assault rifles and handguns.
I kept my eyes glued to Leonardo—but I wanted to search for Laura.
For a man in his fifties, he was in fairly good shape, but his gut was unmistakable. The product of too much wine and liquor. Probably too much bread too. He gave me that stone-cold look, like it might intimidate me.
A stretch of silence ensued, the city quiet. A man left one of the shops and locked the door behind him. When he noticed us, he looked scared shitless because he’d stepped onto the street at the worst possible time. He took off at a dead run.
Leonardo turned and gestured to his men.
Here we go.
The door to one of the SUVs opened and she appeared, dressed in formfitting jeans and boots with a tight sweater that showed off the tits I used to caress with my hands and mouth. When her eyes found mine, there was a hesitation, like a wave of emotions swept over her at the sight of me.
I felt nothing—because I couldn’t feel anything right now.
She stopped beside her father, right in front of me. A breeze moved through her hair and ruffled it. The lampposts behind me reflected in her bright eyes. She always appeared confident in her skin, but not tonight. Now she looked like she couldn’t string two words together.
It was the first time she’d met me—the real me.
Her eyes flicked back and forth between mine, like she was scared of the man who stood before her.
She should be. “Make your plea, sweetheart.”
The endearment seemed to pull her back together. “Let this go, Bartholomew.”
“No.”
“You have France. You have Croatia—”
“And now I want Italy.”
“But you don’t need it—”
“Don’t tell me what I need.” I kept my voice low, but she still flinched when I cut her off. “Your father is a fucking asshole who doesn’t care about you or anyone else. Despite your estrangement, you would still do anything for him—but he wouldn’t do the same for you. I couldn’t care less about dismantling his business and his legacy. Regimes rise and fall every day—and now it’s his time.”
Her eyes hardened when she didn’t get the answer she wanted. “Please—”
“No.”
“Not even for me? Not even because I’m the one asking?”
I gave a subtle shake of my head. “I wouldn’t do it for anyone, sweetheart.”
She sucked in a breath like that was a slap in the face. “This isn’t going to make you happy, Bartholomew. More money…more power…it’s not going to change anything.”
“The only people who say those things are poor because they don’t know any better.”
“Bartholomew—”
“We can continue to waste our time arguing, but it’s not going to change anything. Your father will submit to me and become my distributor for a small cut, or he’ll be slaughtered in this square along with all the people who are stupid enough to stand by him—except for you. Now get back in the car and drive away, Laura.”
She seemed to have finally given up. Now she understood she knew a very different version of me, one that kissed her shoulder when she slept, one that held her close as the morning sun crept across the bed, one that would kill anyone who fucked with her. But that version wasn’t here right now. He only existed in the shadows. Only existed behind locked doors.
She stepped back and turned away.
I looked at Leonardo, ready to destroy him.