Total pages in book: 101
Estimated words: 93425 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 467(@200wpm)___ 374(@250wpm)___ 311(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 93425 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 467(@200wpm)___ 374(@250wpm)___ 311(@300wpm)
Chris is no longer looking at my father. Instead, he’s looking directly at me. “She wanted to tell you, but I couldn’t let my daughter and grandbaby get pulled into this life. I don’t want either of them killed by one of your enemies,” Chris pleads with us to understand.
My father scoffs. “So you sent her out into the world unprotected? If I can figure out that Matteo is Enzo’s kid, so could any of our enemies. And now they are vulnerable without the protection of the Famiglia.”
My father’s voice rises with every word. He’s practically shouting by the time he’s done. Everyone in the room is on edge as we wait to see what he’ll do.
His fist connects with Eric’s jaw. The resounding crack echoes through the room. That’s hardly the worst thing my father has done in this room, and I realize he’s taking pity on the man. Not because it is one of his oldest friends. Friendship won’t earn compassion after betrayal, but because he’s Emma’s father.
Eric is family now, whether he wants to be or not.
My father motions towards one of my uncles to take over for him before signaling for me to meet him upstairs. I follow him wordlessly.
I don’t talk the entire way to the kitchen, where my father instructs the housekeeper to make us tea. I sit silently at the table, my head swimming with questions as my father throws some pictures on the table in front of us.
The little boy, Matteo, my son, looks just like me. I can see myself in his nose and his eyes, in his wild and unruly hair. I chuckle. When he gets to middle school, I’ll be able to help him learn how to control it better. My sisters always say I have more hair products than them, but their hair is far easier to control than mine has ever been.
“Chris has been pushing me for weeks to marry you to Nina Petrov, saying it would be a good way to solidify an alliance with them. He’s been more than pushy, putting whispers into the Russian’s ears we would plan a betrothal,” my father tells me as I stare at the pictures laid out in front of me. Matteo isn't the only one in them. There are quite a few of him with his mother.
Emma.
The day I set my eyes on her, she was the most beautiful woman I had ever seen. Somehow, she's only grown into that beauty. She looks stronger, those long legs of hers becoming shapelier. She’s grown into her body, losing the last bits of awkward lankiness she had at the wedding.
My finger strokes over her face. “I hope you know there is no damn way I was ever marrying Nina, even if I didn’t have a child.”
My father chuckles. “I know son. I’ve known since Andy’s wedding. You nearly hijacked the priest for yourself. I hope you know you didn’t need to get her pregnant to avoid an arranged marriage.”
“If I had known she would end up pregnant, there would be no way in hell she would have ever left this property.”
It’s the one way I’m fortunate where the rest of my family was not. My cousins and sisters are all fair game to be married off in business dealings. It was the unfortunate curse of being born into a family like ours. Business comes before everything else. It has worked out for Andy. He and Bianca fight and fuck with the same intensity, and everyone else in the same household as them is subjected to the sounds of both. I have never seen my uncle so eager as he was to buy them their own place after living with them for the first three months of their marriage.
“Now I know why he was so eager to give you a Russian bride. He hoped if you were distracted with your new wife, you wouldn’t notice when Emma came home with a little boy who looks like you,” my father says, shaking his head. “He’s not supposed to be involved in dealings with the Petrov family. It’s why I became so suspicious of him.”
“It’s time to bring Emma and Matteo home,” I tell him, no uncertainty in my decision. I have missed far too much, and I’ll be damned if I miss another moment.
Chapter Eleven- Emma
“Matteo, honey, I know you want to put your shoes on yourself, but we have to get going.” I glance at the clock on the wall, though I know it’s only going to make me feel worse. We’re late, which isn’t anything new because we’re always late. I’m trying to make a good impression at the internship I’ve gotten, but I don’t think they want to hear about my struggles as a single mom when I roll into the office late.