Total pages in book: 78
Estimated words: 75585 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 378(@200wpm)___ 302(@250wpm)___ 252(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 75585 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 378(@200wpm)___ 302(@250wpm)___ 252(@300wpm)
For a moment I thought about doing exactly what Val had forbidden, jumping into the driver’s seat and taking off. Where the hell was I going to go? Was Val right? Would he find me no matter where I went?
I didn’t have any money to get on a plane or even take a bus or a train that would get me very far. And I’d be conspicuous as hell driving Val’s flashy Corvette, if I even could. It was so much newer than my car that I might as well be trying to drive a spaceship. If I kept his car, I was certain he would track me down. Then I’d owe him a hell of a lot more than I already did, maybe even my life.
Instead of running, I sat there enjoying the cool air, letting my head tip back and my eyes close. I’d hardly slept the night before. The heat had been oppressive. At least with a generator to keep the fan going, maybe I’d be able to get some sleep.
Val returned to the car with several bags full of groceries and the generator. I looked inside the bags as he handed them to me and saw fruit, bread, peanut butter, protein bars, and more nonperishables. “Why are you doing this? Being nice to me, buying me food?”
Val turned to look out his own window. “I know what it’s like to be homeless and hungry, okay. I haven’t lived my whole life the way I do now. My father sought out me and Vito a while after our mother died. We never had much as kids, but for a few years before Dom claimed us, we lived on the streets.”
That explained how he was so different from his father. “How old were you when she died?”
“I was nineteen and I went to live with my father at twenty-one.”
“Thank you for helping me.”
“You’re welcome.” We didn’t say anything else until Val pulled back into the parking spot closest to my storage unit. I started to open my door, but he laid a hand on my arm. “You never told me about killing someone.”
My pulse sped up. Foggy scenes from the moments and days after the accident raced through my mind, some of them real, but most of them probably made up since I couldn’t really remember anything from the moment of impact until days later. “It’s not important.”
He reached for my hand. “It is to me.”
“Why?”
“Because you said no one else thought it was your fault. You shouldn’t be blaming yourself for something you didn’t do.”
“What difference does that make to you.”
He brushed the back of his hand over my cheek. “Baby, can’t I just want you to be happy?”
I swallowed hard, and my gaze fell to his lips. For a moment, I thought he was going to kiss me. A real kiss, like this was a fairytale. Then he dropped his hand and sat back.
I sighed. “If you really wanted to make me happy, you’d let me go.”
Val shook his head. “That’s not how this works.”
“I killed my parents. Are you happy now?”
25
VALENTINO
There was no way in hell Liam had done that unless they’d abused him. “What did they do to you?”
His eyes widened, and he shook his head. “Nothing. It wasn’t like that.”
“Then tell me about it. Because I know you didn’t kill someone who hadn’t hurt you.”
“How do you know that?”
I stroked the back of his hand with my thumb. “Liam, I saw your reaction when I killed the men who assaulted you. Do you think I don’t know you by now?”
“You only know my body.”
How could he think that?” I took his chin in my other hand and made him look at me. “You know that’s not true. Last night I saw all the way into your soul.” He sucked in his breath, and when he met my gaze, there was something in his eyes that I couldn’t read. Was it hope? “Tell me what happened.”
“We’d been at a dinner party given by my dad’s boss at his house on the Cape. I wanted my parents to enjoy themselves, so I stayed sober and told them I’d drive us back to our hotel.”
The color had drained from his face, and I took hold of his other hand and brought them both to my lips. He needed comfort, and I hoped he’d take it from me.
“I was driving on a narrow, curvy road. I was wide awake, I swear, but this car came out of nowhere. I’d looked down the road I was crossing even though I didn’t have a stop sign. There was nothing there. Then all of a sudden, I heard an engine rev and this car was coming at us. I tried to swerve, but the car slammed into us, and my parents…they didn’t survive.”