Total pages in book: 36
Estimated words: 34419 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 172(@200wpm)___ 138(@250wpm)___ 115(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 34419 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 172(@200wpm)___ 138(@250wpm)___ 115(@300wpm)
Until now.
"You love her," she whispered.
"Shut up, Gazelle."
He had never spoken to her like that before, and instead of feeling hurt, she just wanted to cry because she was all the more convinced that what she had said was true.
"Please make me understand. Why do you have to push her away—-"
"Because she makes me feel needy—-"
"Oh, Ces." She had to work harder not to cry, since all those words really meant was that her brother did love that girl, and he probably loved her even more than Gazelle could ever comprehend.
"I know...you're thinking that you love her, the way your mother loved our father—-"
"And it's true," Cesare bit out. "We both fucking know it's true—-"
"It is true, and I'm not going to convince you it's not. But Ces...can't you also see? Penelope isn't like our father. She won't leave you, she won't hurt you, and I know—-"
Her voice broke as she remembered the sound of Penelope throwing up behind them.
"By the way she's hurting, you know...you know she never stopped loving you, so please—-please, Cesare——"
Please go after her before it's too late.
But Gazelle was unable to say those words...since her brother had already left.
Penelope
I keep waiting for Greg to realize he's being followed.
But he never does.
I keep waiting for him to start shooting at us.
But he doesn't do this either.
And so I end up following him all the way to a motel, and I ask my cab driver to park a short distance away while I wait and watch.
Is this a trap?
Greg's making it so easy for me to stalk him. The motel has open corridors that lets me see exactly which floor he gets up to, and even which room he enters.
This has to be a trap.
My cab driver looks at me like I've lost my mind when I give him a thousand dollars...but when I tell him I'll hand over another grand as long as he waits for me to come out, the older man even insists I save his number in my phone, just in case I need any kind of help.
You can do this, dude.
My hands start feeling clammy as I take the stairs all the way to the fourth floor, and my steps silently come to a stop now that I've passed five doors from the left.
If this door is locked, then...
I have no idea what I'll do next, but it's just my luck that the door knob turns rather easily in my fingers.
Maybe...this really is a trap?
There's only one way to find out, and as soon as I step inside the room—-
Oh...SHIT.
The first thing I see is Greg...standing over an old man's corpse.
"Well, I'll be damned."
He actually sounds amused, and that's when I realize this isn't a trap at all.
"You and Marchetti seem to have an unfortunate talent for sniffing out dead bodies."
This is just a madman thinking he's so damn smart, he's like Ted Bundy reincarnate with how he's so convinced he'll be able to get away with whatever crime he cares to commit.
"Since this is your last day alive," Greg goes on conversationally, "I guess I should give you some closure. When I found out about Pilar's will, I worked fucking hard to look for your parents—-"
"And you killed them..."
Greg feigns a look of surprise. "Damn. How did you figure that out?"
A part of me just wants to throw all caution to the wind and be fucking done with it.
Kill or be killed.
But somehow...I manage to stay still. "What about my grandmother?"
"Duh."
I look at the dead body on the floor. "And...him?"
"Ah." Greg is smiling again. "Say ciao to my own fucking papa."
I can't stop myself from flinching as he starts kicking his father's corpse like he's bored and just looking for something to do.
"The old man somehow figured out I'm behind Pilar's death, and he started freaking out over the phone. So I asked him to come meet me here, and when it became obvious that he would never be willing to go along with my plans..."
I guess this really is the day, God...with how everything keeps making sense.
"You're the one who wants to revive the drug trade..."
"Bingo." Greg actually sounds impressed when he says this. "I was wondering if the Marchettis would keep you in the dark about it."
"Do you really think they'd let you get away—-"
"Fuck the Marchettis!" Greg stalks towards me, and it takes everything to stand my ground and not move a muscle. "I really had high hopes for you, Penelope. I really believed I could get you to marry me, and that I could take over the Sorrento clan as your husband. But since that's now off the table, I'm thinking you'd make a nice little gift to my new business partners instead..."
Cesare
Terror had bile rising to his throat as Cesare got back into his car and started making calls. His first call was to Ezio; this brother of theirs also lived in New York, and it was to Ezio he entrusted their sister...since there was no knowing what it would take to undo the fucking mess he had caused.