AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I sure hope not,” I say, thinking about how I’ll need to make it protocol to pick both of us in an emergency.
“Well then, you can go live in your little world of sunshine and rainbows.” My gut drops.
“Anything happens to you, I lose my mind, Dante.”
“Same, Lilah. Let’s make it so that we both make it to the other side of this,” he says, moving the peas to the side and pressing his lips ever so gently to my cold cheek.
The move is sweet and kind and beautiful, but the words . . . they churn in me for days.
Because in his own way, Dante just revealed he thinks there is a chance one of us won’t make it to the end.
THIRTY-SIX
-Lilah-
The next day, everything falls apart.
Or falls into place, depending on how you look at it.
But in the moment, it feels like a disaster.
I’m walking down a hall when I hear the low, grating voice say my name.
“Delilah.”
My mind tells me to keep walking.
To ignore it.
Some kind of sixth sense kicks in and tells me I need to just go, go, go.
But the other side—the side that lives for the drama, that sees potential to shake the already cracked foundation in every interaction—it tells me to stop.
And before I can even register it, my heels stop clicking on the luxurious hardwood floors.
“Yes?” I say, not bothering to turn around.
“Come to my office. It’s time we spoke,” Carmine Carluccio says.
And I know in this moment, I have no option but to agree. Saying no would be way too suspicious. So I nod, turning back to his direction where I don’t even see his face, just the side of a shoulder as he turns into a room.
When I walk in, he’s already sitting behind a huge dark-wood desk.
It brings back memories of walking into Jerzy Girls that first day, walking up to Paulie while wearing that bright-red dress, except this time, there are no bodyguards in the room and I have absolutely zero plan.
It’s just Carmine and me and the all-consuming sense that this is going to be the come to Jesus we’ve all been waiting for, whether I’m ready for it or not.
“So what’s your plan?” he asks, and I furrow my brow, feigning girly, ditzy, blonde confusion.
“I’m sorry, my plan?”
I don’t miss how he doesn’t tell me to sit, doesn’t even make an attempt to make this feel like a cordial conversation.
“A girl like you falls into a family like this, she has a plan.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about. My plan was always to pay off Turner’s debts and learn more about my birth family,” I say, giving him a confused smile.
“Ah, yes. Turner. Did you know he and I had quite the friendship years ago?”
