Total pages in book: 93
Estimated words: 91243 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 456(@200wpm)___ 365(@250wpm)___ 304(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 91243 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 456(@200wpm)___ 365(@250wpm)___ 304(@300wpm)
Except this woman works for Mass, and Rosie seems to like her. Mass would never let someone less than completely competent anywhere near his daughter. Even I know him well enough to be sure about that.
“Come, I’ll escort you myself.” Mass appears at my elbow. He’s glaring at me like he wants to either strangle me or destroy my face with his lips. Probably a little bit of both, knowing what he’s like in bed.
“Honestly, I can’t—”
“We have to talk anyway.” He takes my hand and tugs me with him. “I’ll get you coffee. You’ll like it.”
I frown over at Rosie, but Satya’s already entertaining my daughter. Reluctantly, I let Mass draw me away from them, out the front door, and down into the early afternoon.
I take a sip of the strong Turkish coffee and smile. Light plays through the trees in a small park. We’re in a coastal town, and many of the buildings are brightly colored. People walk past in pairs, going about their lives, and I could almost forget that we’re not back home anymore.
Mass watches me carefully. I notice he barely looks around. He’s so deeply attuned to me that it’s almost disturbing.
“You know, I’ve never let someone babysit Rosie before. Someone that’s not family, at least.”
“She’ll be safe. I swear on my life.”
“I know. I believe you. I just…”
“It must be very difficult.”
“Harder than you’d think. It’s just been me and her for so long.”
He nods, face darkening. I take another sip to cover my discomfort, but he only shifts closer on the bench. “I should have taken you sooner.”
I stiffen and pull back. “Sorry, what now?”
“You’ve been raising our daughter alone all this time. It wasn’t right of me to wait for so long. Only I wasn’t sure, at least until the DNA tests came back.”
“No, I don’t mean to make you feel guilty or something. I mean, I didn’t want—” I clamp my jaw shut before I say something I shouldn’t.
But Mass takes it in stride. “You didn’t want me in her life. I know that. You’ve made it clear, and it doesn’t bother me.”
“Why not?”
“Because you have a preconceived idea of the man I am. You see a criminal. You see a Dragon. But you don’t know me, not yet at least. You will soon enough.”
I let that settle in my chest. We sit in silence while I finish my coffee. Is he right? Am I judging him without really putting in the effort to know him?
There are certain things I’m sure about.
Mass Cardone is a criminal. He’s the obscenely powerful head of an international organization. His past is littered with broken laws, ruined lives, and rivers of blood. A man like him doesn’t become Dragon without a casual relationship with murder.
Except… I don’t actually know much else about the man I’m married to.
“How about we start with the basics. Where did you grow up?”
He seems to consider me for a moment, like he’s not sure if he wants to answer. “In a very bad suburb north of Milan called Scampia. My mother was a seamstress, and my father was disabled. He lost a limb in a car accident and never managed to fully recover. Mentally, at least.”
“I’m sorry, that must’ve been hard. Did you have siblings?”
“None. Momma didn’t want more children, not after Papa’s accident.”
“Are your parents still alive?”
“Not anymore.”
“How did you end up—”
“Scampia was dominated by a housing project. It was a massive series of residential towers built to foster community in its residents, but it ended up as a hellhole for the poor and the dispossessed. Gangs took over almost immediately. I joined one of those.”
I try to picture it. Young Mass growing up in brutal conditions. “How did you survive?”
“I learned to fight. I made myself useful. When I turned thirteen, I cut the throat of a local crew chief and took control of his little network of thieves and killers. At fifteen, I won a battle with one of the largest drug lords in Naples and took control of his operations. At twenty, I was sitting on top of Italy’s underground power structure.”
“You were a child.”
He shakes his head. “I’ve been many things. Liar, killer, thief. But I’ve never been a child.”
The thought makes me deeply sad for young Mass. He must not have ever had a chance at a normal life. My family is in the underground world, but they did their best to shelter me from the worst of it. I went to good schools. I made friends, went to movies, dated a few boys, had a normal life. While Mass was on the streets running criminal operations before I even knew how to drive.
“Is that how you ended up a Dragon? You just kept growing?”
“That’s a longer story, but much less interesting. I’ve always been an ambitious man, and when I found out about the Dragon system, I knew I’d have to become one of the five or else die in the attempt.”