AllFreeNovel
Share Us
* * *
Before we walk in the building, I send a text on the cell that hasn’t stopped ringing since I sent my last one and trust that he’ll heed my wishes.
I’m good. I’m with Marco. We’re going to meet my grandfather. We’re at Russo Contracting in Hudson City. I love you more than anything, Dante, but I’ll be pissed if you break down the doors. Marco’s bringing me to you when we’re done. I’m texting you so you don’t worry, but I’m also trusting you to listen to me. We’re a partnership. No more secrets.
A very long minute passes while Marco and I sit in the car waiting, because I know he’s going to respond, before he finally answers.
No more secrets. I’m fuming, but I’m trusting you on this. I wanted to be there with you when you went.
I need to do this alone. I need to be Lilah Russo right now. Not Lilah Carluccio.
The pause is long and I know in my own way that my words hurt him.
But he needs the truth.
I also know in his own way, it’s a truth he’ll understand if he’s willing to let himself.
Finally, my phone buzzes in my hand and the tension that I didn’t realize was building in my spine eases.
Tell Marco if you’re not in the club by noon on the dot, I’m going in guns blazing.
I smile before tapping out my response.
I expect nothing less.
Covered in you, fiorella.
SIX
-Lilah-
We walk into the large, familiar building and I look around.
It’s the contracting office I went to months ago, back when this all started. Where I was told I was too innocent, not tough enough for this family.
Sure, the man who told me that thought I was there to bag some kind of mafioso boyfriend, but the sentiment stuck. It hurt all the same.
It’s what set me on my mission to prove myself.
I can’t quite pinpoint how I feel now, walking back into this building without having proven myself yet, not in the way I thought I would when I returned here.
God, it’s crazy to think how much has changed in a few months.
Everything has, really.
I tip my head to Marco as I stare up at the big sign reading Russo Contracting. “I came here right after Lola was taken.” Marco stalls, his hands moving to a lock on the front door, a key in his hand.
The business is closed, doors locked, but it seems Marco has the key.
“You came here?” I shrug, not looking at him as I answer.
“I wasn’t sure how to move forward. Everything was confusing. The journals . . . my mom’s, when I first found them, they seemed like fairy tales. Stories. But with all of the new information I had, they started to make sense. I wanted revenge for my father and my mother. I . . . wanted family.”
“And? What happened when you came here? Alfredo never mentioned—” I shake my head before he can continue.
“I didn’t get that far. Walked in and met a woman here. Front desk. Older, dark hair, curvy. Pretty, but . . . rude.”
“Fuckin’ Roz.”
