Total pages in book: 73
Estimated words: 70225 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 351(@200wpm)___ 281(@250wpm)___ 234(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 70225 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 351(@200wpm)___ 281(@250wpm)___ 234(@300wpm)
She frowns. “I don’t like being around Patanza. She is disrespectful and always rushes me.” She chews her eggs before speaking again. “I still think you should fire her.”
He sighs. “You know I can’t, mama.”
“Why not?”
“Because she has nowhere to go.”
“So what? She is an angry, uncontrollable woman with a dirty mouth—”
“She works for me. I can control her very well. She won’t be fired and that’s the last time I will tell you this.” His eyebrows draw together as he picks up his apple juice. “She won’t go with you to the flea market. I will tell Guillermo to go in her place.”
Mrs. Molina presses her lips and continues eating, as if she’s satisfied with that idea.
“Why doesn’t Patanza have anywhere to go?” I ask in English.
Both of them look up at me when I ask my question.
Mrs. Molina’s eyes are wide with astonishment and Draco’s lips smash together as he grips his fork and knife a little tighter, as if he knew all along that I could understand them. He starts to cut into his pancakes, keeping a careful eye on me.
“Why does it matter to you?” he asks after a few chomps.
“Just curious.”
He swallows what’s left and then gulps down the remainder of his juice. “I knew her in school. Since I was twelve. She was never accepted by her family. Her mother abandoned the family when she was born and her father…did things to her that he shouldn’t have. When she sees the role of a mother being portrayed, she gets very defensive and uncomfortable. Which is why mamá doesn’t like her. I agreed to take her in, make sure she’s fed, clothed, washed, just as long as she does what I need her to do around here. In return, she gives me her respect, her loyalty, and her life if need be.”
“Oh. Sorry to hear that,” I whisper.
“Don’t be. It’s made her stronger. A woman with a heart and soul of steel.” Draco seems proud of that quality.
“Does she love you like Francesca does?” I know I’ve just pushed the line with my question, so I’m not surprised when the amusement drips off his face and his glare becomes solid and heavy.
“I haven’t fucked her, Gianna, if that’s what you’re implying.”
“Draco,” Mrs. Molina lightly scolds.
I shrug as if I don’t care, but really it does matter to me, especially when he keeps jamming his cock inside my body and mouth. I don’t know what those girls have. For all I know they are carrying unknown STDs or diseases.
“El amor es la muerte,” he grumbles, watching me intently. “You know what that means?”
I don’t respond. I’m too focused on his grim features.
“Love is death. Loving anyone or anything too much will get you or the person you love, killed. Love, Gianna, is useless. Like I said before.”
“That’s not true,” I declare.
“Oh, it’s very true and you know it. First your mother, and then Lion, and now…Toni.” My heart shrivels up in my chest and I cringe inside, holding his gaze. “Who will be next before you realize love is nothing more than one big fucking illusion?”
My eyes prick with hot tears. When will he stop being a fucking jackass already? It’s over with. It’s done, yet he keeps shoving their deaths in my face. If he had so much respect for Daddy, why is he being this way towards me?
Acting like a fucking bully.
I shove out of my chair and stand up straight. “May I be excused?”
He flicks his fingers, encouraging me to disappear. And then he stands and says something to Mrs. Molina in Spanish. She nods her head in return, and they both treat me as if I’m a ghost now.
I stare at him, though. I stare for so long. I don’t know why. I just can’t believe he’s this way. He lost his father young. Okay, big deal. So did I. That doesn’t justify why he is the way he is. There has to be more—more than he and even Mrs. Molina are willing to confess.
I look between the two of them—the confusing bond they have—and then I finally take off, not once looking back.
I clomp up the stairs and as soon as I step around the corner, I press my back against the wall and drag in a few breaths. I need to find a way out of here.
I take a look around. No windows, but there is a set of double doors beyond where my bedroom is.
It’s at the end of the hallway, about thirty steps from where I am. The doors have short, square windows on them. There are bright rays of sunlight spilling through the slits between the curtains.
I scamper down the hallway and grip the gold knobs, bursting right in. The room is vacant, so I step ahead, taking a look around for bodies.