Total pages in book: 103
Estimated words: 98469 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 492(@200wpm)___ 394(@250wpm)___ 328(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 98469 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 492(@200wpm)___ 394(@250wpm)___ 328(@300wpm)
“Yes, I can,” I hiss. “Because neither of you is ever leaving this fucking house again. We’re upping security, and you’re homeschooling Damien.”
I give Damien a kiss on his forehead, then give Peyton one. “I need to handle the police, and then we’re going to go to a hotel for the night.”
“Thought you just said we’re never leaving the house again.”
She raises a brow, and I glare at her.
Smart-ass.
“Dominick, there’s something you need to know,” Brielle says when I walk over to where she’s talking to my team of men.
We need to call the police. Too many deaths occurred. But before we do that, we need to make sure we have our ducks in a row.
“When Anthony was dying, he said we might think we’ve won, but that we have no idea what we’re in for.”
Her words are confirmation that he wasn’t working alone. I was hoping I was wrong, that Anthony’s death meant my family would be safe. But someone else is out to get us, and because they were using Anthony as a front and he’s dead, we have no idea who it is.
“You did good,” I tell Brielle, pulling her into a hug. “I can never thank you enough for saving my son.”
“It felt good to be the one to end that bastard’s life,” she murmurs against my chest. “I just wish I could’ve gotten more info out of him before he died. But I did get this …”
She slips something into my pocket, and without looking, I know it’s his phone.
I thank her and hope that it will unlock some answers to our questions.
After calling the police and having Peyton, Brielle, and Hillary give their statements, I take my family over to Hotel Blu to stay in the penthouse suite while the police turn the house into a crime scene investigation.
Damien insists on checking on Martha, so I call the guard I have there, and he informs me that she pulled through surgery and is recovering in the ICU. After what she’s been through, I’m going to insist she finally retire. She deserves some peace and quiet.
With the knowledge that Martha will be okay, Damien thankfully falls asleep quickly, and Brielle excuses herself to her room. Matteo stayed behind to oversee things at the house, and Lorenzo took his fiancée home.
“What are you doing?” Peyton asks, looking up from the book she’s been reading for the past half hour.
“Searching for new houses.”
There’s no way I’m moving my family back into that house. It has too much history, too much corruption hidden in the walls. My son witnessed a murder there, and I’ll be damned if I bring him back.
Besides, we need somewhere safer. The way Anthony and whoever he was working with was able to get in proved that it wasn’t as safe as I need it to be.
Peyton nods in understanding, and her lack of argument tells me that she agrees. I pull her into my side, and we scroll through listings. She comments on certain ones, and the ones she seems to like, I note to look into them further.
When she falls asleep, I put the laptop away and carry her into bed, holding her in my arms and praying that nothing ever touches her or our son. I finally got them back, and I’ll be damned if I lose them.
EPILOGUE
Dominick
Three Months Later
“Dominick, it’s enough!”
I glance up at my gorgeous fiancée in confusion, but I don’t have to wait long for her to elaborate.
“Damien and I are sick of being cooped up in this house. Don’t get me wrong. It’s beautiful and perfect. Damien loves his room and the fact that you managed to find a house with the perfect Giving Tree to replace the old one. But you need to let us out. It’s like we’re in jail!”
I take a deep breath, not wanting to upset her further, knowing we’re never going to see eye to eye on this. It’s been three months since we lost Ricky and came way too close to losing Martha.
Despite us having access to Anthony’s phone, he wasn’t as stupid as we thought because he left no trace of any evidence of him working with or for someone else, so we are no closer to knowing if we have a bigger threat looming over our heads or if Anthony said what he did to fuck with us.
Shortly after everything went down, we started searching for a new house. Since my mom was already pretty much living with her fiancée—who is now her husband—she moved in with him. Brielle chose to move in with us, unsure where she wants to live, and Matteo—despite me asking him to live with us—moved into a condo in one of the developments we own, saying it was time for him to have his own place.