Total pages in book: 99
Estimated words: 96170 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 481(@200wpm)___ 385(@250wpm)___ 321(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 96170 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 481(@200wpm)___ 385(@250wpm)___ 321(@300wpm)
“I’m more worried about you.”
She waves me off. Some of her fire and strength are coming back. “You look like a horror movie victim.”
“Pretty sure I’m not the victim here, darling.”
“Even worse then. You’re the killer.”
“Exactly.” I dab at her lip softly, but she takes the cloth from my hand. “I’m going to have my family’s doctor take a look at you.”
“I’m fine. Honestly, I really am.” She wrings out the cloth. The water turns slightly pink as she dips it into the tub and cleans herself more. “You don’t have to do that.”
“Your throat’s bruised. I’m going to make sure you’re not seriously injured.” She gives me a look as I stand and stare back. “No arguments.”
Her eyes narrow. “Are you used to giving orders?”
“I’m used to doing the right thing.”
“And I’m used to having control over my own body. I said no doctor. I meant it.”
I turn away so she doesn’t see my smile. “We’ll discuss this later.”
“There’s nothing to discuss!”
“Go ahead and take a bath. I’ll bring you clean clothes.”
“Wait a second!” I walk to the door and pause before leaving. “You said you were watching me. What was that supposed to mean?”
“I’ll explain everything later. Just get yourself washed up, alright?”
She doesn’t look happy as I slip out of the guest bath and close the door behind me.
When I walked into that garage and found her down on the floor under some goon, I lost my fucking mind. I’ve never seen red before in my life. I pride myself on keeping control.
But I lost my goddamn mind.
He had his hands on her. He was straddling her and choking her. My Fiorella. My future fucking wife. The woman I keep dreaming about. The woman I’ve been watching for the last two weeks.
The woman I’ve been obsessed with since the moment we met.
My only regret is that I couldn’t beat that fucking prick to death a second time.
She was so shocked and broken in those first moments after I saved her. It broke my fucking heart seeing her like that. Fiorella’s normally filled with fire and brimstone. I’ve gotten to know her pretty well from afar over the last two weeks of watching her, and I feel like I understand her better than I ever dreamed I could.
That girl carries around a lot of hurt. I don’t know why or what happened, but it’s all over her. There’s a lot of anger deep inside, but she keeps it under control. Her emotions are locked down inside a steel box. Everyone’s kept at a distance. She uses sarcasm and anger to hide her real emotions. I can relate to that on a visceral level. But seeing her on the floor, beaten and raw, terrified for her life, nearly killed me.
Rage flows through me now as I retreat into my master bathroom to wash away the worst of the blood. My sink and vanity get splattered pink. I strip off my shirt and throw it into the tub. I don’t give a shit. I keep seeing her down on the ground, beautiful lips puckered, swollen, and cracked, her eyes bloodshot and tear-covered, fear clenching her body into a ball.
My phone rings. I stare at the screen before answering. “Took you long enough to call.”
Raf Serrano sounds pissed. “Where’s my sister?”
“She’s cleaning the blood off her face.”
A short pause. “What happened?”
I give him the abridged version, watching her from afar, only realizing something was wrong when her radio turned off. “I got there in time.”
Raf lets out a long breath. “Fuck. I can’t believe this.”
“Can you really not? I tried to warn you two weeks ago. I told you there was a fucking threat.” I pace back and forth in the bathroom.
“You told me there was a threat, but you didn’t say from whom. You didn’t give me fucking anything.”
“I gave you enough to make sure she was protected,” I snarl at him, breathing hard. “You should’ve kept your sister in the house until I figured out who was behind the attacks.”
“Obviously, it’s someone that wants to stop our alliance.”
“I don’t give a shit about that. You failed her.”
“You must be some naive idiot if you think I have any control over Fiorella. She does what she wants when she wants to.”
“No wonder your business is failing. You can’t even protect your own family.”
“Fuck you, Luca. You don’t get to talk to me that way.”
“My wife nearly fucking died.”
“You’re not married to her yet,” he says coolly. “And she’s still my sister.”
I grip the phone hard enough to make the frame creak. He’s right; I’m not married to her yet. And if this is all about making sure we don’t walk down the aisle together—
“Tomorrow morning,” I say through my teeth.
“What the fuck are you talking about now?”
“I know a friendly judge. We’ll go to his office and make it official.”