Total pages in book: 77
Estimated words: 75062 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 375(@200wpm)___ 300(@250wpm)___ 250(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 75062 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 375(@200wpm)___ 300(@250wpm)___ 250(@300wpm)
I had never been a vengeful person. I hadn’t ever harbored much hatred in my heart.
I might not even have felt hatred toward Colin if it were not for the fact that he’d forced my brothers into his world, screwing up their chances at getting away, creating better lives for themselves.
Massimo was right.
The decision couldn’t be mine.
I wouldn’t be able to live with that.
But I could give him the information he needed, and let him do with it what he needed to.
I mean, I would still be at fault in a way. But I needed not to think about that.
This was about survival.
For me.
And my brothers.
“I know this might be hard,” Massimo said, “but I am going to need you to keep your brothers in the dark about this.”
“Yeah, no. I wasn’t going to say anything to them. I didn’t want them to be in an uncomfortable position because they knew what I was up to. It’s better for them to just… wake up one day to a different world with different opportunities for them.”
“And you,” Massimo said.
“I mean, yeah. Yes, of course. But I am mostly concerned for them.”
“I don’t think anyone who was looking at your situation from the outside would think you didn’t deserve to be a little selfish here,” he told me.
“I don’t need to be selfish. Just… free. To have sugar in my coffee and go outside for a walk if I want.”
“Not in this neighborhood,” he said, shaking his head.
“Actually, this is my old stomping ground. I know how things probably looked from the outside. That Cody was the bad boy from the wrong side of the tracks who tempted the good girl cheerleader away from her cozy, safe life.”
“That’s not how it was?”
“No. Actually, I was the one from the bad area. I was the one with the parents who were constantly drinking or drugging and beating up on each other. I was the one who had the Goodwill clothes. Cody had a comfier, more stable life. I mean I only got cheerleader because—“
“You’re beautiful,” he cut me off, making a strange fluttery sensation move across my chest at the compliment.
I mean, sure, Colin complimented me. But his words always left me feeling slimy and cold.
Massimo’s words made me feel, well, warm.
I was pretty sure that was all kinds of screwed up, given the situation, but I guess I couldn’t be too hard on myself since Massimo was probably the best-looking guy I—and most other women—had ever laid eyes on. When a guy that attractive called you beautiful, it was normal to have a reaction.
“I was going to say it was because I was really peppy,” I said.
“It was because you’re beautiful. Peppy helps. But it was because you were probably the prettiest girl in school.”
“I guess that all kind of depends on what, you know, your personal pref—“
“No. Some things transcend preferences,” Massimo cut me off. “It’s why Colin wants you. Because he couldn’t stand that his brother wanted you, that his brother got you. So now he has to have you.”
He wasn’t wrong about that. The sibling rivalry had been intense between the two. They could barely stand to be in the same room together sometimes. And when they were having issues, everyone was having issues.
I’d never understood their dynamic since I’d always been so close with my brothers. But I guess my relationship was a protective big sister one, whereas Colin and Cody were closer in age, so everything became more about competition.
“He’s going to die still not having had you, though,” Massimo said.
His bluntness caught me by surprise. He’d been careful up until that moment, always saying things in ways that wouldn’t come back and bite him in the ass.
“Well, hopefully,” I said, nodding.
“No, not hopefully,” Massimo said, voice savage. “If something feels off with him before I get a chance to take care of him, I want you to take the risk and call me. It can all be ended in a few minutes. Before anything happens.”
“I’m sure it will be fine,” I said, glancing down at my mug. Because, to an extent, I was pretty sure I was lying.
Colin hadn’t let me work for his mom out of the goodness of his cold, empty heart. He’d sort of… assumed that by my wanting to work at the deli with his mom, it meant I was starting to warm to him. And when Colin thought something like that, it could make him more forward, more… demanding.
He’d insinuated things before. About the two of us. But he’d never gone further than the occasional casual touch.
But if he thought that I was becoming, like, more his? I didn’t want to think what it would mean for the advantages he felt entitled to take.
And if I tried to refuse?
A shiver coursed through me at the idea.