Total pages in book: 52
Estimated words: 48585 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 243(@200wpm)___ 194(@250wpm)___ 162(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 48585 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 243(@200wpm)___ 194(@250wpm)___ 162(@300wpm)
“Valentina, get in the car now!” I urge as I pop open the passenger door and pull my gun up toward the windshield to fire on her pursuers if need be.
Thankfully, she jumps into the car just in time for me to avoid firing any shots, and also, I get the bonus of running over one of the guys’ feet.
“Get down!” I say as I reach to push her below the window as I punch the gas and race away from the church, leaving Vincent and Isla behind in what is sure to be a hot mess of a situation that I just helped to create.
Beside me, Valentina is breathing heavily, her face as pale as snow, still in shock, her breasts heaving with ragged breaths at the top of her dress.
“What are you doing here?” She asks as she turns to look at me with grateful surprise. “How did you know I was going to run?”
I narrow my eyes as the realization of what just happened sets in, and I turn to look at her. She’s scared but still exudes a sort of quiet strength that is beautiful beyond words.
“I didn’t,” I say truthfully.
I don’t know what I’m going to do now, but the one thing that I know is that I will not let Leonardo come for her. Never again will I allow anyone to take Valentina from me or coerce her into anything against her will. I fiercely protect those I love, and though Leonardo Conti may think I’m a “saint,” that’s only because he hasn’t seen the unholy wrath I unleash on anyone who touches Valentina Ricci, because she belongs with me.
CHAPTER 3
VALENTINA
The moment I step into Luc’s car, the destination stops mattering. As long as it’s far away from Leonardo and his men, that’s good enough for me. With Luc, I feel safe—more than that, I know I am safe. He treats me like a person instead of like property, as both Leonardo and my father do. Besides, it doesn’t matter where I’m going because I don’t think I even have a home anymore. I’m in another country with no one to turn to, and back in Vegas, I have only Leonardo’s estate or my father’s house. But my father is part of the reason I ended up in this mess with Leonardo to begin with. He’s the one responsible for my arranged marriage to Leonardo, a “strategic family arrangement” as he called it. And as much as I love my father, I’m now deeply conflicted and frustrated with our relationship. What kind of man would put his daughter in this position, committed to a husband she doesn’t care for? I feel for my father. He was always a neutral man who kept a low profile and tried to get by without getting sucked into too much trouble. But his fatal flaw was turning to Leonardo when his business struggled, and he needed a loan. Asking a Conti for money means that you are in their debt—or, as the case turned out to be, I'm the one responsible for paying my father’s debt by giving my hand in marriage. I tried to do my duty and passively go along with it, but that night with Luc changed things. It reawakened a personal desire that has been burning hot ever since and quickly led me to finding my agency outside of my family loyalties.
Still, this can never work between us. It’s a tragedy waiting to be written.
“You know we can’t actually be together, right?” I ask him, wanting Luc to convince me otherwise. “Neither of our families would allow it.”
“Do I look like a man who lets mafia politics and societal expectations impede taking what I want?” he asks without looking at me. “I know the risks of what we just did, Valentina. You left Leonardo Conti embarrassed at the altar during his own wedding, and I just stole you out from under him.”
Funny, I hadn’t thought of Luc as “stealing” me until just now. It seemed at first that he was just there in the right place at the right time to help me escape. But in truth, Luciano stole my heart a long time ago.
“You’re a consigliere, not a Don,” I remind him carefully. I’m used to having to tread lightly around Leonardo so as not to set him off, and those habits die hard. “You’ll have to answer to Vincent too, for what you did in helping me escape.”
“Yes, I’m well aware of that. It’s not something for you to worry about, though. I’ll take care of it. Besides, Vincent doesn’t have as much power over my life as he thinks.”
I can pick up on a hint of envy in Luc’s voice, as if he thinks he might be a better leader than his cousin. But there’s a quality that I’ve seen almost every Don share in common—a ruthless, cold, selfish demeanor that puts them above others. Vincent might be an exception to that with Isla, but he still has a hard edge around his heart. Luc doesn’t strike me as being that way, especially not with how he seems both so adoring and protective of me at the same time.