AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I almost open my mouth to take it back—but at the last moment, I change my mind. This is important to me, okay? It may be silly, may be weird, but I need my freedom. I want to be a human, a girlfriend, a part of his life, not an actual toy kept in his house for entertainment—and I want Paolo to know about that now before it’s too late to part ways.
“I do understand you, and I can’t promise to keep you away from the Mafia world,” he says after a moment of contemplation, and my heart drops.
Is that it? Is that the end? But then, Paolo squeezes my hand in his hold and does something I never expected to see. He gets down on his knee in front of me, and I freeze. Wait, am I still asleep? Is this a dream?
“I can’t free you from the dangers of my life—but I’ll give you the world. We’ll travel to other countries, we’ll see places you didn’t know existed, and we’ll get a taste of life outside of Chicago.” Paolo presses a kiss to my knuckles, and I feel tears rising to my eyes. “Jacinta, I’ll do all it takes to make your life everything you’ve always wanted it to be.”
Oh god. I have to gasp for breath before I lunge forward and wrap my arms around him, burying my face into the crook of his neck. What did I do to deserve this?
“I guess you don’t mind it, then,” Paolo says with a chuckle, rubbing my back, and I can only nod, tightening my arms around him. I’m not crying, but damn, it does feel like it.
“I love you,” I whisper into his neck, and even without looking at him, I can feel his smile.
“I love—”
But the buzz of his phone interrupts him. Oh come on, why do they have to call now?
Wait.
I widen my eyes and immediately untangle my arms, hurrying to get away from Paolo and let him pick up his phone. If it’s someone from his family, they’re probably calling to tell him about yesterday, and I’m just as impatient as he is to hear the news. How did the fight end? Has anyone survived? Is Dad still looking for me?
I can’t help but chew my lips, nervously fiddling with the sleeves of my shirt as I watch Paolo reach for his phone. He glances at me before answering the call and, all of a sudden, turns the speaker on. Wait, does that mean he trusts me enough to hear the conversation?
God, I hope I’ll be able to handle it. I swallow and focus on his phone with an unfamiliar male voice coming from the speakers. “Paolo? Can you hear me?”
“Yes, Matteo, I’m here.”
“Where are you, man? We’ve been searching for you all morning.”
Paolo huffs and shakes his head. “It didn’t occur to you to check my house, huh?”
There’s an audible pause before Matteo says something that sounds like a curse in Italian. “You haven’t been there in months!”
“That’s exactly why we’re here.” Paolo chuckles, but the guy on the other side doesn’t let it slip.
“We? Are you with the girl?”
“Yes, Jacinta is here,” Paolo says after a short pause and glances at me, and I push my sleeves further down my hands, curling them into fists. I guess they’d figure it out anyway, but I still don’t trust his family enough to feel comfortable with them.
And the way Matteo sighs with relief only makes me more nervous. Why would he want this information? Do they want to send me to Dad again?
“That’s good. Keep her there.”
“Why?” Paolo frowns, and I’m glad to hear displeasure in his voice. He’s the only one I can trust to protect me. “What do you want her for?”
“Jesus, Paolo, calm down, I’m not gonna do anything to her. I’m just saying that it’s good to keep an eye on her until we sign the truce.”
Paolo and I exchange a glance and both move closer to his phone. “The truce? What are you talking about?”
“Don’t you know?” Matteo chuckles with disbelief and sighs into the phone. “As soon as the two of you left last night, the Mexicans laid down their arms. Her daddy couldn’t believe she had willingly gone with you, it was so funny! We forced him to apologize on his knees for betraying us, and he broke down in tears, can you imagine that? The old freak was begging to see her again.”
“He’s not a freak!” I can’t help but yell at him, and Matteo goes silent for a moment before chuckling.
“Do you really think so, Señorita?”
I purse my lips and huff under my breath, sitting back down on the floor. I mean, Dad kinda is a freak, but that Matteo has no right to call him that.
“Alright, but what were you saying about the truce?” Paolo cuts into our bickering. “Does Gerardo agree to all our demands?”
