Total pages in book: 86
Estimated words: 80715 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 404(@200wpm)___ 323(@250wpm)___ 269(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 80715 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 404(@200wpm)___ 323(@250wpm)___ 269(@300wpm)
I read off my device. “Antoine is a work in progress. That scrawny little snitch wasn’t a snitch at all, and now we’ve got to find another lead. President Barsetti wants an update, and I don’t fucking have one. Not to mention it’s jubilee this year, so we’ve got to add security to Pope Zephyrinus’s detail—” I stopped in mid-sentence when I saw Aurelia’s name appear on the screen, along with a text.
I would give anything in the world to talk to you. I read the sentence twice before I lowered the device and looked across from me at Rocco, who was lounging on the couch, arm over the back, a drink in his hand like this was a fucking hangout rather than a work meeting. “You unblocked her.”
He gave a slight shrug, then took a drink.
“You crossed a line.”
He shrugged again, like he didn’t give a damn.
“Never thought I’d have to tell you not to go through my phone.”
“Didn’t go through it.”
“Stay out of my fucking business.”
“What happened, Con? You were fucking gaga over this woman.”
I set the device aside, sunlight fading through the windows that faced the garden. “Doesn’t matter.”
“It does matter. You’ve got a good head on your shoulders and a moral compass that doesn’t deviate, but sometimes you get carried away when you’re emotionally charged.”
“That’s not true—”
“Carl Athenios.”
I released an irritated sigh.
“You were so fucking mad that you pulled his tongue out of his fucking mouth and then crushed his windpipe. It took us twice as long to get the information we needed because you jumped the gun.”
“That is not the same thing as what’s happening now—”
“Then what’s happening now?”
I felt like a bottle of shaken champagne. The second I was uncorked, it’d be a mess of bubbly rage. “We don’t do this—”
“I just want to make sure you aren’t fucking this up, Con.”
“Me?” I gave a laugh because it was fucking ridiculous. “I’ve been going after this woman hard—”
“I think you were too hard on Isabella. I think you prematurely ended that relationship.”
“Asshole, I didn’t even know you at the time.”
“All I’ve heard is your side of the story, and I still think you’re in the wrong.”
“Wow,” I said as I shook my head. “Now it all comes out.”
“She didn’t know he was your brother and, of course, was so confused by the whole thing. She was fucking twenty-three—”
“I’m not going to rehash a decade-old relationship, Rocco.” It was dead and buried, and I’d moved on long ago.
“Why won’t you tell me?” he asked. “I thought we were closer than that.”
“Not saying we aren’t.”
“Then why?” he pressed. “Because you might be wrong?”
“Fuck you. I know what you’re doing.”
He sat up from the couch, forearms on his knees, leaning toward me with the coffee table between us. “Just fucking tell me.”
He wasn’t going to let this slide, so I decided to save us both the time and just tell him. So I shared the details of that afternoon, storming into her apartment and chasing off that little cunt like the pussy he was. And then what she said to me at the end of all of it.
Rocco was quiet when I finished.
“I’ve bent over fucking backward for this woman since I met her. One minute, she’s there with me, and then the next, she pulls away. I’m just fucking sick of it. So many women would be happy to take her place in my bed.”
“But you don’t give a shit about any of those women.”
“Well . . .” I grabbed my glass and took a drink.
“You’re being too hard on her.”
“I didn’t ask your opinion!” I yelled, my voice reverberating off the coffered ceilings.
“Was her ex abusive? Did he hit her? Did he do anything to give you any indication that he was there to physically cause her harm?”
All I did was stare, fighting the urge to get up and punch him in the face.
“You didn’t storm in there because you were worried about her. You went because you were jealous.”
“I was not fucking jealous.”
“Jealous and fucking insane. You barked at him like a dog?”
I looked away. “You should have seen him run.”
“So this poor woman, who’s already nervous just getting into the car with a bunch of dudes and guns, has you storm into her apartment and verbally assault her ex who stopped by to deliver some pictures she’d left behind. And then you reveal that you’ve had a security team watching her for who knows how long? And you wonder why she was upset?”
I was gonna do it. I was gonna punch him in the goddamn face.
“Con.” He raised both of his hands slightly. “I don’t get you, man. You’re a smart fucking dude, but sometimes you get tunnel vision and you can’t see the whole picture. She said she wished you were normal in a moment when her way of life was under threat.”