Total pages in book: 90
Estimated words: 85490 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 427(@200wpm)___ 342(@250wpm)___ 285(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 85490 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 427(@200wpm)___ 342(@250wpm)___ 285(@300wpm)
“You look good,” he says.
“Very funny. What do you want, Marco?”
“I want to talk. I want to explain what you saw the other morning. You’ve been ignoring me, little demon.”
“I’m not your little demon. Marco.”
He tilts his head. “You throw that name at me like it’s a curse. But right now, I’m only Jackal. You can call me whatever you want.”
I shiver with excitement. God, yes, he’s only Jackal. The mask is back in place, and we can pretend again, if I let myself, and I really, desperately want to play.
But I can’t get past what I saw that morning. Valentina Santoro looking beautiful and sleepy. They spoke to each other like they’re intimate, but he keeps saying they’re not together, and I don’t know who to believe.
“Why was that girl at your place?” I ask him, hating myself a little bit for voicing the question out loud. I should be wondering a million other things, like why would he want to be with me when his old boss was trying to destroy my family? Did he know who I was at first? And if he didn’t, what was he doing at my art gallery opening? Instead, my ugly jealousy takes over, and I ask the least important question first.
“That’s a conversation for Marco, not for Jackal.”
“Let’s pretend you’re both, or else I can get up and walk away and never see you again.”
His head tilts to the side. “Alright, little demon. Valentina and Marco are good friends. They’re… close. But not romantically involved and never have been. They’ve known each other for years, and when Valentina’s father was killed—”
“Killed by my father,” I point out. “After he tried to destroy us.”
Another acknowledging head nod. “After that went down, she was lost. They started working together and Marco protected her from some of the more violent elements of the former Santoro network. Valentina likes to take certain liberties, and she slept on Marco’s couch that night after drinking half his beer and eating all his food. She’s generally a pain in his ass.”
I lean back, considering. Just friends. Close enough that she sleeps over, but nothing more. I can imagine how hard things must’ve been after Santoro’s Famiglia imploded—there was probably a lot of jockeying for power, and I’m betting Valentina was in a lot of danger those first few months. Marco would have been in a good position to keep her safe if what he’s saying is true.
“What did you tell her about me?” I ask him.
“The truth. That you and I are seeing each other. She wasn’t happy about it, but like I said, she owes Marco a whole lot. I think she’ll get past it. But maybe she won’t. That doesn’t matter.”
I touch the rim of my glass but don’t drink. I feel cold and confused, and I’m trying to decide how much of this I can believe, but Jackal hasn’t lied to me yet. He made it clear that revealing his identity would ruin our game, and he was absolutely right about that, and he never claimed to be something that he’s not. There have been multiple opportunities for him to hurt me, to spy on me, to steal something from me, to press me for information about my family, but he hasn’t a single time. It’s always been about us.
“Were you involved in the war between our families?” I ask, afraid of what he’s going to say.
Again, he nods. “Yes, Marco was. He ran a crew that got involved in more than a few altercations with the Biancos, but mainly they controlled the cyber division of the Famiglia.”
“Do you still hate us? Do you still hate my family?”
This time, he hesitates. His shoulders tense, and his head tilts to the side as if considering. But he nods. “Yes, baby, I do.”
I appreciate his honesty, but hearing that hurts anyway. “Then how can you justify this?”
“I don’t know,” he admits. “You aren’t your family. I don’t hate you, but I do hate the organization your brother runs. They’ve been systematically destroying any competition and closing an iron fist around Chicago. Soon every minor crime family will either be paying tribute or chased out of town. My future depends on resisting them.”
I let that sink in. I’m not sure how I feel about it. I’ve never been very involved in the Famiglia and never really cared what my brothers were up to before. He’s right, I’m not the organization, but I am still a Bianco, and the men running the Famiglia are still my brothers. I care about them, even if I don’t really care about the mafia.
“Your boss drove armored trucks into the oasis and tried to murder me,” I say quietly, meeting his gaze and trying to keep my voice from shaking. “He tried to hurt everyone I care about. Why should I get past that?”