Series: The Rossi Crime Family Series by J.L. Beck
Total pages in book: 72
Estimated words: 67931 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 340(@200wpm)___ 272(@250wpm)___ 226(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 67931 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 340(@200wpm)___ 272(@250wpm)___ 226(@300wpm)
Clearly, I’m not understanding this. “You’re aware of who you are and what you do for a living, right?”
Xander’s gaze turns cold. “I am. Are you? Because you continue to talk down to me like I’m scum beneath your shoe. I saved your whore upstairs from death, and I brought you back into the family. I’ve welcomed you with open arms, little brother, and all you’ve done is shit on me.”
“Call Keira a whore one more time and I will slit your fucking throat.” I know I’m feeding right into his hand—right into his sick game—but I won’t let him talk about Keira like that…not when she isn’t here to defend herself.
“This seems like very irrational behavior for someone who isn’t in love.” He has a dark smile plastered across his face.
His mood swings give me whiplash, and I want to punch him in the face a thousand times over.
“It doesn’t matter, Xander. If I love Keira, then I do…so fucking what. Love isn’t a weakness, and the sooner you learn that, the better your life will be.”
He chuckles, then takes a huge gulp of his drink.
“You know what, brother,” I sneer. “There is no hope for you. You’re heartless and as sick as our father.”
My words seem to cause him to snap. An eruption of violence breaks free, and within seconds, he’s tossing the glass against the wall behind me. It shatters, and the remaining contents drip down the wall, but I don’t flinch. My brother doesn’t scare me. The only thing he could possibly hurt is upstairs, and I’d kill him if he ever laid a hand on her again.
“I’m nothing like our father. Nothing,” he booms. “In fact, I’ve done every single fucking thing I could to make certain I didn’t turn into that bastard, but since you’re so keen on assuming I am just like him, why don’t you fight this fucking war against him on your own?”
My brow furrows, confusion settling in. “What are you talking about? He’s been dead for years. I watched you shoot him right after he shot me. He’s dead.”
A darkness falls over Xander’s face. “No, we thought he was dead, but I can assure you he’s not. And now that we both have a weakness worth fighting for, we need to protect the Rossi empire. We need to protect what’s ours.”
I can’t believe my fucking ears. “You’re telling me our father isn’t dead?”
Xander stares me straight in the eye. “I’m telling you our father isn’t dead, and he’s coming for us next.”
The ground beneath my feet seems to disappear, and I realize how bad this is going to get.
War. A full-out war is going to take place. Xander and I won once, but can we beat death again?
Can we beat the monster without becoming one ourselves?
The End