Total pages in book: 93
Estimated words: 90511 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 453(@200wpm)___ 362(@250wpm)___ 302(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 90511 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 453(@200wpm)___ 362(@250wpm)___ 302(@300wpm)
“I want to talk about my marriage.” I pause, waiting for a reaction. He doesn’t give me one. “I’m done playing this game of chicken.”
“I didn’t realize that’s what we were doing.”
“You’re going to keep pushing this marriage thing until you get what you really want. And don’t tell me it’s some deal with the Marinos. You don’t need me for that. You have lawyers.”
He snorts, tapping rapidly at the screen. “You clearly don’t understand how the Marinos operate. They prefer handguns to briefcases.”
“They’re a business, Grandfather, not a bunch of Neanderthals.”
“Why can’t they be both?”
“Stop acting like this is reasonable. You’re not really going to marry your only granddaughter to some—” I wave a hand in the air, scowling. “Pit-fighting criminal.”
He pauses and frowns at me over his glasses. “And yet you were perfectly fine with having sexual relations with that pit-fighting criminal.”
My jaw grinds and my cheeks turn red. I know what he’s doing. Throwing the sex in my face to embarrass me and knock me off my game. I don’t take the bait. “Sex and marriage aren’t the same thing. And don’t act like you haven’t been sleeping your way through the secretary pool for the past thirty years.”
He gestures vaguely in the air like he’s already bored with this. “What would you have me do? Everything’s been agreed. If you back out of this, your father will release his little blackmail packet. Do you want him to do that? At least marrying the criminal gives you some plausible deniability.”
“That’s the thing.” I start to pace, easing into the argument. “I don’t think Dad will do it. I’m his daughter, and if he makes me look bad, it’ll only blow back onto him. I think he’s bluffing, and I think you’re bluffing too.”
Grandfather lowers his tablet. He studies me carefully as I keep moving, masking my discomfort with motion. After a moment, his face twists into a very small, very narrow smile.
“You know something, Charlie? You always impress me.”
That’s a surprise. I stop and look at him, feeling like a mouse inches from a snap trap. “I’m an impressive woman.”
“But you’re wrong about the bluff. Your father is so angry and so deeply vindictive that he’ll happily burn us all to hurt me and you in the process.”
I wilt slightly, looking away. “I don’t want to think you’re right.” But deep down, I know he is. Dad’s always been that way. A bastard of a human with a shriveled, prune-like heart.
“However, you were right about the other part. I do want something, and it isn’t just the deal with the Marinos.”
That perks me up. Finally, we’re getting somewhere, and we can stop playing this stupid marriage game. “What is it? Let’s lay it all out and negotiate. We can come to an agreement.”
“I want you to marry Stefano Bianchi.”
I laugh lightly, but he’s clearly not kidding. “I thought we were about to be reasonable.”
“He’s a good match for you.”
“Please, that man’s twice my age. You do realize that, right?”
“Age is just a number.” Grandfather’s lips curl.
“Make me a deal. Don’t do this. Maybe I have a bit of my father in me because I’m about to burn everything down too.”
Grandfather puts aside his tablet and slowly pushes himself from the recliner. I resist the urge to help him. That’d only weaken my position. He shuffles away, hands behind his back, looking toward his front window.
“Here’s what I will offer you.” He doesn’t look at me as he speaks. “The Marino Famiglia has one of the most sophisticated smuggling and shipping operations on the East Coast. I’ve been trying to figure out their logistics for years now without much success. It’s that damned omerta absurdity. But you are going to get close to them. You will use your husband, twice your age or not, and you will learn everything you can about their operation. You will report back to me weekly with what you learn. And if you live up to your end of the bargain and you give me what I need—” He turns, eyes narrow and cold. “You will be granted a divorce in one year.”
This is the grandfather I’ve always known.
A harsh, ruthless man willing to do anything to get what he wants.
Including marrying me off.
I’ve been lucky until now. He hasn’t turned this aspect of himself around on me. Everything I am, I learned from this man.
But I should’ve known it was only a matter of time.
Grandfather is a force of nature, and anyone who gets in his way will get flattened.
“You want me to spy for you.” It makes a sick sort of sense. They won’t suspect me. I get the feeling Stefano will look at me like a toy. He won’t even notice as I sink my claws into him and peel away all his secrets.