Total pages in book: 85
Estimated words: 84756 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 424(@200wpm)___ 339(@250wpm)___ 283(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 84756 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 424(@200wpm)___ 339(@250wpm)___ 283(@300wpm)
When I open my eyes, it’s to see Damiano climbing to his feet. Adjusting his jacket, he asks, “Can you handle a gun?”
Huh?
I shake my head, absolutely confused out of my ever-loving mind.
“It’s a problem that can be fixed.”
Not understanding, my voice is hoarse when I ask, “Why is it a problem?”
“You’ll find out soon enough,” he mutters before stalking out of the room.
What?
Still in a daze from experiencing my first kiss, I blink at the doorway.
What just happened?
Damiano just kissed the hell out of you and walked away like it didn’t mean anything to him. That’s what happened.
I lift my hand slowly until my fingers brush over my tingling lips.
Was he testing the waters to see if he felt attracted to me?
The way he abruptly ended the kiss has worry pouring into my chest.
What if he didn’t feel any attraction and decides to send me back to my parents?
No. Anything but that.
Chapter 15
Damiano
It’s been a week since I kissed Gabriella in the sunroom, and even though I’ve made up my mind, I haven’t been home since.
Work has kept me fucking busy, and then Dario’s woman got kidnapped. It’s been one shit show after the other.
I met Dario’s girlfriend at a ballet show earlier tonight and could see how much he already loves her. He’s fallen hard and fast, and if we don’t get her back, I have no idea what it will do to Dario.
The drug dealers that grabbed Eden right from under our noses are either fucking stupid or brave. I don’t know Eden at all, but you don’t touch a capo’s woman and life to tell the tale.
Angelo, Dario, and I are sitting in a helicopter while Carlo flies us toward a yacht where girls will be sold as sex slaves.
Dario got the lead on the black market, and I can tell my friend is about to lose his shit. The only thing keeping him in line is the authority I have over him.
When Carlo lands on the helipad of the supersized yacht, Angelo gets out first before Dario follows. I’m last to step onto the deck and notice a man approaching us.
“We weren’t expecting a fourth party,” the man says.
Carlo comes to stand beside me, his weapon already drawn as he fold his hands in front of him.
“We invited ourselves,” Dario mutters, his tone laced with a fuck ton of impatience.
Kristian Anderson comes up a set of stairs accompanied by two armed guards, and I instantly feel agitated.
The flesh peddler doesn’t bother looking at Angelo and Dario. His eyes lock with mine, then he asks, “What’s the Cosa Nostra doing here? This isn’t your territory.”
The fuck it isn’t. The bastard is selling girls just off the coast of New York and pushing his fucking luck.
One day I’ll have to deal with the fucker.
I feel Dario’s eyes on me as he asks, “You know him?”
“Kristian,” I mutter. “Sex trafficker. Let me handle this,” I order.
Feeling fucking exhausted, I step forward and say, “I’m here for a specific girl.”
“We don’t have anyone who belongs to the Cosa Nostra,” Kristian replies.
Wanting this over and done with, I mutter, “Show us the girls, and we’ll be on our way.”
“Only you. The rest wait right here,” he agrees.
When I start to walk, Carlo sticks to my side. I can feel the tension coming off him and know he won’t hesitate to jump into action should shit go sideways.
By the stairs, a guard shakes his head at Carlo, and I give the fucker a dark glare. “Where I go, he goes.”
“Let him come,” Kristian snaps from the foot of the stairs.
I head down and follow Kristian to a room. He shoves the door open, and I glance over the five young girls who look drugged out of their fucking minds.
Disgust ripples over my skin, but not showing any emotion on my face, I turn around and walk back to the helipad.
Seeing the question on Dario’s face when I reach him, I shake my head. “Let’s go. We’re wasting our time here.”
We all pile back into the helicopter and when the aircraft lifts into the sky, I rub my fingers over the headache pounding against my temple.
My phone starts to ring, and thinking it’s one of my men, I pull the device out. Not recognizing the number, I accept the call and press the device to my ear.
I’m fucking surprised when I hear Gabriella ask, “Damiano? Are you there?”
Just hearing her voice makes some of the tension ease in my shoulders, and it catches me by surprise.
When I kissed her to test the attraction between us, I almost got knocked onto my ass by the intensity. I haven’t kissed a woman since my early twenties, and feeling Gabriella’s lips tremble against mine stripped me bare.
I had to force myself to break the kiss and walk away so I wouldn’t fuck her right there in the sunroom.