Total pages in book: 82
Estimated words: 79336 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 397(@200wpm)___ 317(@250wpm)___ 264(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 79336 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 397(@200wpm)___ 317(@250wpm)___ 264(@300wpm)
I was happy to see that.
I was in a better place too—but revenge didn’t sleep.
I would kill Darius—someday.
When I came for a visit, I stayed in a hotel now. I told my mother I needed my space, and she let me have my way. Now that she wasn’t utterly heartbroken, she was okay being alone at the house.
I hung out with my friends and cousins, hitting the beach and the town, feeling right at home. I spent the day jumping off the rock with my cousin Antonio and other friends, taking turns doing backflips and belly flops, acting like kids when we were grown-ass men.
When we made it back to the beach, we ordered drinks and pizza and ate in our cabana.
“What’s going on in Rome?” Antonio asked.
“Work. That’s about it,” I said before taking a bite of the mortadella pizza with pistachio pesto.
“Done with Cosa Nostra?”
“We keep in touch, but I do my own thing now.” My occupation was an open secret. Everyone kind of knew about it, but no one asked too many questions. They knew my life had changed, that I had a lot of money now, based on my home and my clothes and my own plane, but no one treated me differently.
That meant a lot to me.
“Seeing anyone?” he asked.
I shook my head. “Not seriously, no.” My life was a carousel of women, different ones hopping on while old ones hopped off. I didn’t have to work for it either. It just happened. I was fit like a bull, rich like a billionaire, and attractive like a celebrity, so I really didn’t have to do anything. But I never shared that information. Didn’t want to brag.
The beach was full of locals and tourists, all enjoying the sun and the waves. The bar was packed with people, and the weather was perfect, without a cloud in the sky. Antonio watched the TV in the cabana for a while.
Francesco nudged him in the side. “Tell him about Isabella,” he said under his breath so I wouldn’t hear.
But I did. “Tell me what?” I asked in a normal voice.
Antonio tossed his slice of pizza back into the box then wiped his hands clean on the napkins. “She’s getting a divorce.”
“What?” I blurted. She got married two years ago. I didn’t know the guy, only saw them together at the wedding, but they seemed happy. Isabella and I didn’t talk at all at the wedding. I kept my distance out of respect. Sometimes when we were close together, that tension was still there, and the last thing I wanted was to make her special day complicated. I assumed she didn’t feel that way about me anymore, but it was still complicated. “What the hell happened?”
“She caught him fooling around on her.”
I went absolutely still at that information. “What the fuck did you just say?”
“Some girl he works with at the bank,” Antonio said. “Isabella found their texts and then tailed him one day. Caught him red handed.”
“Yeah, fucking asshole,” Francesco said. “Hasn’t come around since.”
“She moved back in with her mom,” Antonio said.
“When did this happen?” I asked.
“Couple weeks ago,” Francesco said. “I’m surprised your mom didn’t mention.”
Oh, I know exactly why she didn’t mention it.
My appetite was done for, and the beach day was ruined. I got up and pulled on my shirt.
“What are you doing?” Antonio asked.
I started to walk out of the cabana. “I’ve gotta check on her.”
Her family owned Levante Gelato Artigianale, one of the most famous spots in Taormina for gelato, so when I called and texted and got no reply, I assumed she was there. I headed down the main street until the very end where it was located.
Her family was like family to me, and my family was like family to her, so when I walked in, I headed straight to the back instead of taking up the worker’s time. I went past the storage shelves to the office in the rear. I could see her through the open door, working on her laptop, hair thrown up in a bun like she didn’t care.
That wasn’t like her.
I stopped in the doorway. Whatever she was working on had so much of her focus she hadn’t heard me. “Hey.”
She flinched at my voice, did a double take, and then released a sigh.
Her phone was right there, so she’d chosen to ignore me.
“Scared the shit out of me, Con.”
A chair was positioned against the wall, so I pulled it up next to her desk. “You okay?”
She took a breath, and then she blinked several times in a row, like she wasn’t the least bit okay. All she could muster was a shake of her head.
My hand reached for hers.
She took it like it was a life raft. “The worst two weeks of my life.”
“Yeah.”
She sniffed, and then her eyes started to flood with tears. “He’s such a piece of shit . . . I can’t believe he did this to me.”