Total pages in book: 87
Estimated words: 84446 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 422(@200wpm)___ 338(@250wpm)___ 281(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 84446 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 422(@200wpm)___ 338(@250wpm)___ 281(@300wpm)
“Right. Like one of them is going to swallow their pride, trek down here, and admit they… whoa,” the newly familiar female voice started as she pushed past Elian, only to freeze a foot inside the door as she got a look at me.
Honestly, in the long list of family members I thought might show up to see me, she was almost at the bottom.
Avery was the wife of my cousin, Emilio. Who was the Capo dei Capi’s right hand man.
She was a pretty blonde with a somewhat round face and light blue-gray eyes.
When I gave it a second of thought, though, it made sense that it was Avery.
Because Avery was a Lombardi.
Well, sort of.
Avery had been the stepdaughter of a Lombardi capo.
She’d actually met my cousin Emilio when Renzo had used her to spy on the Costa family.
So if anyone was going to feel comfortable traipsing into Lombardi territory, it was someone who’d lived in it most of her life, who knew all the people.
She shot Elian a pointed look that had him clearing his throat and walking out.
Then Avery was rushing across the room to me.
“Tell me he didn’t do this,” she said, eyes pinned to my face.
I could see the thoughts swirling around her head as she likely wrestled with the idea of having to go back to the Costas and give them this update.
“He didn’t do it,” I said, shaking my head. Then, a little firmer, “He didn’t do this. I was mugged.”
“Mugged,” she repeated. “You, a mafia boss’s wife, were mugged?”
“Yes. But… um… let’s just say that he learned his lesson,” I said.
“He better the fuck have,” she said. “I mean who in their right freaking mind busts the face of Renzo Lombardi’s wife? I mean, unless they were looking forward to a wired jaw. Oh, is that coffee?” she asked, but made her way into the kitchen without waiting for an answer.
I liked Avery.
In a family of a lot of women who just seemed to have it all together, Avery was a breath of fresh air. Because she could be a mess sometimes. Always babbling, cursing constantly even when she means not to, tripping and spilling stuff, crying randomly, laughing so hard she snorted. She helped me feel a little less awkward.
She was opening and closing cupboards, looking for a mug as I moved closer, seeing some long white and gray hairs on her dark pants from her cats.
“Where’s the sugar?” she asked, opening more cabinets.
“There is none.”
“What do you mean there is none?” she asked, whirling on me, eyes horrified, making my lips curve up, the scab on my lip pulling. I’d been trying so hard not to pick at it.
I’d been to Avery’s house on several occasions and on coffee dates with her a few times too.
She liked her sugar.
Her coffee concoctions were often more complicated than mine.
And she knew I liked things sweet too.
“What? Like, you ran out?” she asked, giving me the benefit of the doubt.
“I haven’t bought any.”
At that, Avery’s brows drew together as she suddenly turned to whip open the fridge. Then the freezer. Before turning back at me.
“What’s going on here, Lore?” she asked, head tipping to the side. “You can be honest with me. They’re both, for all intentions, my families. I know the good and bad of all of them. Like, that one out there,” she said, waving toward the door.
“Elian?”
“Yeah. He is quiet and sees everything. And that guy Dav? All that charm? Covers up a dark side. My brother? A complete fuck-up, but has a good heart.”
“And Renzo?” I asked.
To that, she took a deep breath.
“So, Renzo forced me into a job he knew put me in danger,” she said. “And he wasn’t easy on me, either, when I was not getting results. He’s harsh and demanding and often unfeeling. But when I fell for Emilio and failed the job, he came to my apartment when I’d been falling apart. And he’d… given a shit. I mean, he’s not a touchy-feely, warm and tingly kind of guy by any stretch of the imagination, but he… he cared in his own gruff kinda way.
“He kind of told me I had to get my shit together because he wasn’t going to visit me if I went on a slipper sock vacation. Then, when I couldn’t stop crying, he gave me a pill and knocked me out,” she admitted, shaking her head. “I half-expected not to wake up, to be honest.”
“I didn’t know that,” I told her.
To that, she shrugged. “It wasn’t my finest hour,” she admitted. “But love can make us act really fucking crazy. Crazy enough… to marry the enemy of your family without knowing a damn thing about him.”
“What?” I asked, heartbeat tripping into overdrive, a frantic pounding against my ribcage.
“Oh, come on. Listen, I love you Lore. But you really weren’t the self-sacrificing for the good of the family sort, right?” she asked. “I mean, you never dig your heels in about anything. So when you decided this, I had a feeling you might have a crush on Renzo or something.”