Total pages in book: 118
Estimated words: 109674 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 548(@200wpm)___ 439(@250wpm)___ 366(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 109674 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 548(@200wpm)___ 439(@250wpm)___ 366(@300wpm)
“Remo will allow you to visit your stepmother and stepbrother. I’ll take you to them.” Surprise washed over me. I had asked him several times, so I wondered why he would let me see them now, of all times. Maybe he didn’t want a woman present when Nestore was inducted.
Niccolo took me to one of the guest bedrooms on the upper floor. My belly tightened when he opened the door, worried about what I might find behind it.
Flavia perched on the sofa, breastfeeding her son. Niccolo’s expression twisted with discomfort at the scene. “I’ll wait in front of the door.” He left without another word.
Flavia scoffed. “Nothing drives away men faster than the sight of a baby feeding from a breast.”
I walked over to her, noting with relief that she had a tablet with food on her bedside table. I sank down beside her. My heart swelled, and my eyes filled with tears at the sight of my little brother for the first time. He was a chubby little thing, with dark hair and tiny fingers and toes. He was perfect.
Flavia gave me a soft smile. “When he’s done eating, you can hold him if you want?”
I nodded, my throat clogging with emotions. “How are you?”
She scanned me from head to toe, lingering on my bandaged wrist. “That’s a question I should ask. Are you safe?”
“Safer than before.”
“The Falcones reign brutally over their territory.”
“They’re at war. Wars are always brutal.”
“Some men never return mentally from war.”
“I’m just happy that Nestore’s suffering is over, that he gets a chance to live.”
She stroked the dark hair of her baby, a soft smile tugging at her lips. When she looked back up, her eyes were serious. “Is he dead?”
“Father? No. He’s down in a cell. Nestore…Nestore wants to torture him before he kills him.”
Flavia swallowed. “I wish he were dead.”
“So do I. Not just for you and me, but also for Nestore. I worry what it’ll do to him if he is consumed by revenge.”
“It’s hard to move on from what he’s survived, Amelia. Maybe he can’t. Perhaps you need to let him go.”
My eyes widened. “What do you mean?”
“Maybe you should leave this manor, this life, and all the darkness clinging to it. I won’t stay.”
My heart sank. “You’re going away?”
“Yes. I told Remo Falcone everything I knew when he came by this morning, and he told me I could leave. He doesn’t seem too concerned about releasing women. He doesn’t consider me a threat to his power.”
Sadness overcame me. “You’re really leaving?”
She touched my hand with a soft smile. “Come with me. I’m sure Remo won’t care.”
Maybe Remo wouldn’t, but Nestore most definitely would. He’d never let me go. I had promised him to stay, and I couldn’t imagine being without him, but I couldn’t deny it. He had scared me on occasion in the last twenty-four hours. Though that wasn’t even why I felt the deep desire to leave. These walls seemed to whisper about the past. I heard them at night or when I closed my eyes. It felt like I was still their captive.
“You don’t have to decide now. We’ll stay for a few more days to give things time to calm down. I want all of your father’s men out of the way before I’m seen in public.”
Niccolo took me back down an hour later, but we never made it to the ballroom before Nestore came our way, eyebrows drawn together and eyes harsh with suspicion. “Where did you take her?”
“To her stepmother on Remo’s orders,” Niccolo said.
Nestore touched my waist, worry clouding his expression as he met my gaze. “Are you okay?”
“I am. I just had a chat with Flavia. I needed to make sure she and the baby were all right.” I lowered my gaze to the tattoo on the inside of his forearm. The skin around it was an angry red. The eye on the hilt of the blade was puckered because of a burn scar there. “Now you’re a Camorrista.”
“A Camorrista and Underboss, as was my destiny all along.”
“I thought you’d have to be of age to take the position.”
Nestore shrugged. “It’s only a few more days. Nobody will care about age if I prove myself.”
How? I wanted to ask, but I was too scared of the answer.
I woke with a start. Suppressed screams filled the room. I turned on the light and blinked against the sudden brightness until Nestore came into focus on the floor beside the bed. He must have slept down there if the pillow and blanket were any indication. His muffled screams were the result of him pressing his forearm into his mouth, teeth drawing blood as he screamed in agony. It was a nightmare, but too close to what he’d really endured to make me feel sick. Tears sprang to my eyes and trickled down my cheeks.