Total pages in book: 58
Estimated words: 56680 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 283(@200wpm)___ 227(@250wpm)___ 189(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 56680 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 283(@200wpm)___ 227(@250wpm)___ 189(@300wpm)
“And taking Mia!” Alessia hisses.
“Stop it,” I tell her. “Dante saved me. Other men in his position would’ve let Vito treat me like crap. Dante got involved, even when he has his own problems to think about.”
“Shall we get him a reward?” Dad says in his mocking voice.
Behind him, his friend, the one with the slicked-back hair, keeps staring. Then it hits me where I know him from, and I want to scream.
“You lied to me, Dante.”
“He had to!” I snap. “Uncle Leo, Dad is… He’s wrong. He’s not a good person. I’m sorry. I wish he were. I wish he weren’t the way he is.” I don’t mean to, but I start to cry, and then Dad rolls his eyes.
“She can’t just use her fucking brat emotions to play on you!” he roars.
“Tony, stop it,” Alessia hisses. “Anybody could see you don’t care about Mia. I believe her, and if Dante saved her, we owe him.”
“You hear that, brother?” Dad says, laughing harshly. “We owe the cannon fodder more than we owe the Family. He lied to you. He was going to keep lying. You never would’ve learned this if it wasn’t for me.”
“It doesn’t prove your point,” Dante snarls, staring down at Dad like he’s ready to leap on him. Dad is trying to act tough, but he’s purposefully not standing close to Dante. “I lied because Vito was a scumbag. He was going to hurt your daughter, Tony. Do you give a single fuck?”
“Dante,” I whisper as his darkness seeps out, his hands clenched into tight fists.
“Tony, I think you should leave,” Alessia says.
“For Christ’s sake, Alessia, just do what you do best and shut your mouth.”
Alessia gasps. The room suddenly tenses up. Even Dad’s friend, the slicked-back pervert, looks shocked. Leo is completely still for a moment, but then it’s like he begins to shake from somewhere deep inside. He explodes into a roar, walking right at Dad.
“You think you can talk to my wife like that, Tony?”
Dante quickly steps between them, his arm raised. He’s not pushing Uncle Leo, but he’s keeping it as a shield there. Dad backs up. It’s like Dante’s mafia reflexes take over, or maybe he wants Dad for himself. “Relax, Leo. I-I didn’t mean it.”
“She’s right,” Leo growls. “I’ve ignored it for too long. All that stuff about leaving you behind. Life’s dark, Tony. I had to leave. I’m sorry, but you can’t keep using it as an excuse.”
“What are you saying?” Dad whispers.
“I’m saying we all accept the narrative that the mercenary group kidnapped Mia. Dante brought her home, and you return to the West Coast.”
“Why, Leo?” Tony snaps. “For one comment? I slipped.”
“Exactly, you slipped.” Uncle Leo sighs, the anger deflating out of him. “You’re always trying to put on a show. You don’t think I see it. Maybe you think the stroke changed me, but I see it. Your own daughter flinches away from you. She doesn’t want to touch you.” Leo swallows like he might cry, as if saying this about his brother hurts him. “That’s not a good sign. Just-just go. You’ve got a good life out there.”
Tony stands up straight, adjusting his shirt. “I’ll go, and my daughter will come with me.”
I instinctively move back. Alessia wraps her arm around me. I lean against my aunt.
“Doesn’t that seem cruel to you, eh, Leo? You’ll steal a brother from me and a daughter.”
“Don’t pretend you care,” Leo snaps. “Leave now!”
“Not without Mia!” he snaps like a toddler throwing a tantrum.
“You need to take it easy,” Leo growls. “If she doesn’t want to go with you, she doesn’t have to. Don’t start throwing fits about it.”
Dad looks at me. Even now, with Dante standing right next to him, ready to crush him to pieces if he tries to touch me, a jolt of fear moves through me. I see Vito, the blood… I stand up straighter and stare him in the eye. I’ll look back at this moment someday. I want to be proud of how I acted in whatever messed up way I can be.
“I’m not going with you… or your sick friend.”
A glimmer of something nasty flits across Dad’s face, but he tries to hide it. “I don’t have to leave, Leo. I don’t have to go anywhere.”
“Don’t threaten me, Tony,” Uncle Leo snarls.
“I like the East Coast,” he says, moving toward the door. “I like the people. I like the atmosphere.”
“If you leave like this,” Leo snaps, “you know what it means. I’ve told you what’s happening. You need to agree.”
“I don’t agree to a goddamn thing,” Dad yells, the real him coming out at the end. It’s the version of him he’s always done his best to hide, except from me.
“Get out,” Alessia yells. “Both of you. Out.”
Dad and his friend rush to the door. Dante follows them slowly, his fists clenched, looking like he’s ready to tear Dad to pieces. I almost yell at him to do it. I know my man would. I don’t know what it says about me. The thrill of knowing that sends shimmers through me.