Total pages in book: 86
Estimated words: 82847 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 414(@200wpm)___ 331(@250wpm)___ 276(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 82847 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 414(@200wpm)___ 331(@250wpm)___ 276(@300wpm)
Don Mancini continued to stare at me, having a much better poker face than his daughter. Her emotions and thoughts danced across her features like a lit-up billboard. At least, that was how she was with me.
“He’s right,” Leo said. “The ecosystem has changed, so the players have changed with it. If we want to survive, we need to adapt. I think Wolfe is exactly what our crew needs right now.”
Elio didn’t chime in but looked at his boss instead.
“Trust is like a garden,” Don Mancini said. “It can take years to spot the weeds from the flowers.”
“Was Luigi a weed or a flower?” I challenged.
A slight movement happened in his eyes, like my words dug deep.
“I don’t need you to trust me,” I said. “But I want to be treated as an equal from now on. I want to be utilized to my full potential because, with all due respect, you really fucking need me.”
Don Mancini drew a single breath, his chest rising slowly before he released that breath just as slowly. “I find it suspicious that someone of your caliber would want to join us. You could go anywhere, Wolfe. Not just in Sicily, but in Italy or France or New York.”
“I already told you my reasons.”
“Yes, you respect the way we do business. But the way you handled Luigi is not the way we do business, so it’s contradictory.”
“That was a retaliation, not a provocation. If someone wants to fuck around and find out, let them find out. And Cosa Nostra and the other gangs do shit that I don’t tolerate. Trust me, you are not the same.”
“Elaborate.”
I shook my head. “I told you I’m not a rat.”
He continued to stare at me.
“You follow American basketball?”
Don Mancini didn’t react, but Leo answered. “Yes. Why?”
“Remember when LeBron James returned to Cleveland to win them the championship? Then he moved on and joined the Lakers afterward? It’s kinda like that. You’re the original Mafia—and I respect that.”
“And you think you’re LeBron James?” Leo asked with a chuckle.
“Damn fucking right I am.” I sat back in the armchair and looked at Don Mancini again.
The biggest reason they could trust me was one I couldn’t share—because I would never betray my woman. I’d met her just a couple weeks ago, but she’d quickly become my entire life, my entire purpose, an irrational obsession that fueled me night and day. “Am I in or not?”
Leo turned to look at his father. Then he gave a subtle nod.
Elio did the same.
Don Mancini shifted his gaze back and forth between the two of them before he looked at me once. “You’re a part of this crew—but you aren’t a part of this family.”
I was dead tired from being up all night, and then the night before, I hadn’t slept much either because I was making Francesca come and cry over and over again, so I was ready to head home and hit the sack.
I walked downstairs and out the front doors, crossing the path to the other buildings and then the parking lot beyond. My Range Rover sat in the front, a little dusty from being out in the elements like this.
“Wolfe.”
I smirked when I recognized her voice, picking up on the concern, relief, and affection all mixed into one. She must have seen me leave from her office window and run after me…because she was obsessed with me.
I turned back around. “Hey, baby—”
She crushed her mouth to mine, standing on her tiptoes as she hooked her arm around my neck, kissing me like we were in her bedroom instead of a dusty parking lot.
Yep, she was fucking obsessed with me.
I gripped her ass as I kissed her, not giving a damn if anyone saw me feel her up out there.
She was mine. I could do whatever the hell I wanted.
She pulled away first, her lips swollen from the intensity of our kiss. “You’re okay?”
“Not a scratch.” I could feel the ridiculous smile on my face because of how unnaturally wide it was. “What did I tell you about worrying about me?”
She ignored the question. “Are you going home?”
“Yeah, I’m fucking dead.” Two days without sleep. I would be grouchy like a bear if anyone else stopped me in the parking lot but her. “Gonna catch up on some sleep.”
The disappointment in her eyes was like a beacon for help.
My smile faded to a smirk. “You want me to come over.”
“I’ve been worried all night.”
“I know—because you’re obsessed with me.”
The same temper her father had shone in her eyes, and she smacked me. “Don’t piss me off, Wolfe.”
“But I love pissing you off.” I grabbed the front of her jeans, hooked my fingers through one of her belt loops, and tugged her gently into me. “I’m not sure what turns me on more, when you’re angry or when you’re clingy.”