Total pages in book: 88
Estimated words: 84901 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 425(@200wpm)___ 340(@250wpm)___ 283(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 84901 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 425(@200wpm)___ 340(@250wpm)___ 283(@300wpm)
“Enzo, don’t look so emotionless. I know it hurt you and Jamie the worst when Eloy AWOL’d. I still can’t believe he’d leave.” She took a deep breath, shaking off her discomfort. “Anyway, you’ve gotten a ticket. Here’s an inside view of the Killeen PD’s system. Heh.” Rain laughed in my face. “Don’t worry, it’s showing as paid if Vassili digs deeper.”
Before she smirked again, my hand lashed out. Squeezed her throat. I hissed. “You think this is a joke?”
She writhed, almost slipping free. I let her breathe just enough. Rain hiked her hand, trying to place it between my forearms.
“Vassili wants Eloy to be perfect,” I growled, tightening again. “Between taking crappy mercenary assignments, I’m watching his daughter. Are you trying to interfere?”
“N-no. Enzo, please listen.”
“Too late for apologies.” I leaned close, lips brushing her ear. “I wanted Natasha first. I want her curves, her laugh, her mouth. Then … I’ll go after her father.”
Rain’s body sagged. Submission. Exactly why I’d picked her. A woman with the skills to serve me and low self-worth. She’d never leave.
I shoved her backward across the table. She spilled into a heap, coughing. Didn’t look cute in a bikini now.
Seconds passed. I glimpsed a small fire in her eyes. Ah, she understood her place. Beneath me. A spark that faded under my glare. Her voice cracked when she said, “A squeaky clean record might tip him off.”
Was she lying? My eyes flicked over her for a tell. Satisfied, I gestured for her to continue.
Rain massaged at her throat, the creamy skin tinged red. “My training indicates that a clean facade will spook the most powerful. Resnov will be suspicious if Eloy seems flawless.”
I studied her. She might be right. Paranoid men spotted perfection like blood in the water.
“Fine,” I muttered. “This better go the way I expect.”
She nodded quickly. “I-I’ll go home since you’re off to Glendale tomorrow. Baseball training, ri-right?”
I leaned down and pressed a kiss to the imprint my fingers left on her neck. She stiffened. “Be available when I call you,” I whispered. “I’ll need you again.”
Rain Howard shivered but burrowed close anyway. “Enzo …” Her lips brushed my skin, tentative at first, then urgent, almost frantic. She kissed me again, soft, needy. And in between kisses, her words spilled. “I don’t … understand your anger. All this time, I thought Vassili stole the belt from your father.”
Another kiss.
Her breath trembled against my jaw as she forced out the truth. “Louis ‘the Legion’ Gotti took his belt.”
At her words, the fight that haunted me surged forward, jagged images filling blanks in my mind. The cage. The lights. The crowd. Vassili’s face. Papa’s shadow.
Her lips traced the line of my jaw. “Th-the fight was the same night you were born, Enzo. I can show it to you online. Your father … won.” She kissed me harder, like each heavy press bound me to the words. The truth. “I think we should go home now, Lorenzo. W-we s-should leave their family alone. Your dad stole—won Vassili Resnov’s belt. Your dad … won. Did you know that?”
As her lips sought to tease my jaw more, I forced my mouth against hers. Rough, punishing, desperate. Then I tore away and growled against her lips. “Yes. My mama went into labor that night.”
I waited. Waited for her to call me crazy, doubt me. To turn me into the liar of my own life story.
But she didn’t.
She stitched up words, her voice shaky and loyal, desperate. “Vassili made it seem like Gotti robbed him.”
Not technically true. Vassili never commented on their match after the fight-night interview, where he said he’d rework his strategy. But I appreciated her attempt to side with me. She hadn’t placed herself into the situation. Still, she was no Natasha. Natasha believed with her whole heart. Her compassion was pure.
Rain? Rain Howard made the offer not out of love, but for survival.
She kissed me again, clinging to me like I was oxygen and her executioner. “Fans believed Louis didn’t deserve the belt. He beat Vassili fair and square … and Vassili’s fans complained.”
I muttered another affirmative. She nailed it this time. Although Mama’s face was lost to me, I still remembered what she’d said. Mama used to say that the first time Papa hit her was the night he won that fight—the one that earned him a Resnov’s belt. She’d been pregnant. With me. The blows sent her into labor. The thing was … she just didn’t understand. He wanted to meet me a little sooner—two months early. That was all.
After that, all he cared about was proving he deserved the belt. Resnov fans wanted a rematch. And then my father’s fans doubted him. Louis trained harder, fought harder, hit harder. There was nothing left for me and Mama. No time. No love. Just pure dedication to the game.