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Those Boys Are Trouble: Valetti Crime Family Box Set

Page 81

by Winters, Willow


  I made sure that box has been within my sight for every meeting I’ve had in this office. It’s a reminder for me so I can stare at it in this god forsaken room as I make deal after deal with criminal after criminal and collect wealth and power like the dusty old books on these shelves.

  It cost me a fortune to get this office exactly how I wanted. But if it were to burn down, I could buy it all over again.

  Everything except for that box.

  “You really think they’re going through with it?” I hear Daniel, my brother, before I see him. The memories fade in an instant and my heart beat races faster than the tick tock of that fucking clock.

  It takes a second for me to be conscious of my facial expression, to relax it and let go of the anger before I can raise my gaze to his.

  “With the war and the deal? You think he’ll go through with it?” he clarifies.

  A small huff leaves me, accompanied by a smirk, “He wants this more than anything else,” I answer him.

  Daniel stalks into the room slowly, the heavy door to my office closing with a soft kick of his heel before he comes to stand across from me.

  “And you’re sure you want to be right in the middle of it?”

  I lick my lower lip and stand from my desk, stretching as I do and turning my gaze to the window in my office. I can hear Daniel walking around the desk as I lean against it and cross my arms.

  “We won’t be in the middle of it. It’ll be the two of them, our territory is close, but we can stay back.”

  “Bullshit. He wants you to fight with him and he’s going to start this war tonight and you know it.”

  I nod slowly, the smell of Romano’s cigars filling my lungs at the memory of him.

  “There’s still time to call it off,” Daniel says and it makes my brow pinch and place a crease on my forehead. He can’t be that naïve.

  It’s the first time I’ve really looked at him since he’s been back. He spent years away. And every fucking day I fought for what we have. He’s gone soft. Or maybe it’s Addison that’s turned him into the man standing in front of me.

  “This war has to happen.” My words are final and the tone is one not to be questioned. I may have grown this business on fear and anger. Each step forward followed by the hollow sound of a body dropping behind me, but that’s not how it started. Y can’t build an empire with blood stained hands and not expect death to follow you.

  His dark eyes narrow as he pushes off the desk and moves closer to the window, his gaze flickering between me and the meticulously maintained garden stories below us.

  “Are you sure you want to do this?” his voice is low and I barely hear it. He doesn’t look back at me and a chill flows down my arms and the back of my neck as I take in his stern expression.

  It takes me back years ago. Back to when we had a choice and chose wrong.

  When whether or not we wanted to go through with it meant something.

  “There are men to the left of us,” I tell him as I step forward and close the distance between us. “There are men to the right. There is no possible outcome where we don’t pick a side.”

  He nods once and slides his thumb across the stubble on his chin before looking back at me. “And the girl?” he asks me, his eyes piercing into mine and reminding me that both of us survived, both of us fought, and each of us has a tragic path that led us to where we are today.

  “Aria?” I dare to speak her name and the sound of my smooth voice seems to linger in the space between us. I don’t wait for him to acknowledge me, or her rather.

  “She has no choice.” My voice tightens as I say the words.

  Clearing my throat, I lean my palms against the window, feeling the frigid fall beneath my hands and leaning forward to see Addison beneath us, Daniel’s Addison. “What do you think they would have done to Addison if they’d succeeded in taking her?”

  His jaw hardens but he doesn’t answer my question. Instead he replies, “We don’t know who it was who tried to take her from me.”

  I shrug as if it’s semantics and not at all relevant. “Still. Women aren’t meant to be touched, but they went for Addison first.”

  “That doesn’t make it right,” Daniel says with indignation in his tone.

  “Isn’t it better she come to us?” My head tilts as I question him and this time he takes a moment to respond.

  “She’s not one of us. Not like Addison and you know what Romano expects you to do with her.”

  “Yes, the daughter of the enemy…” My heart beats hard in my chest, and the steady rhythm reminds me of the ticking of the clock. “I know exactly what he wants me to do with her.”

  Click here to keep reading Merciless on Kindle Unlimited!

  About Willow

  Thank you so much for reading my romances. I’m just a stay at home mom and avid reader turned author and I couldn’t be happier.

  I hope you love my books as much as I do!

  More by Willow Winters

  https://www.willowwinterswrites.com/willow-winters/

  Sign up for my Newsletter to get all my romance releases, sales, sneak peeks and a FREE Romance, Burned Promises.

  If you prefer text alerts so you don’t miss any of my new releases, text "Willow" to 797979

  Contact Willow

  Bookbub | Twitter | Goodreads | Email

  Instagram | Facebook Page | Website

  Check out Begging for Bad Boys and Wildflowers on Facebook - If I’m not writing, I’m in one of these groups!

  Also by Willow Winters

  Merciless World

  A Kiss to Tell

  Possessive

  Seductive

  Merciless

  Heartless

  Breathless

  Endless

  All He’ll Ever Be

  A Kiss To Keep

  A Single Glance

  A Single Kiss

  A Single Touch

  Hard to Love

  Desperate to Touch

  Tempted to Kiss

  Easy to Fall

  This Love Hurts

  Merciless World Spin Off

  It’s Our Secret

  Standalone Novels:

  Broken

  Forget Me Not

  Sins and Secrets Duets:

  Imperfect (Imperfect Duet book 1)

  Unforgiven (Imperfect Duet book 2)

  Damaged (Damaged Duet book 1)

  Scarred (Damaged Duet book 2)

  Willow Winters

  Standalone Novels:

  All I Want is a Kiss

  Tell Me To Stay

  Second Chance

  Knocking Boots

  Promise Me

  Burned Promises

  Forsaken, cowritten with B. B. Hamel

  Collections

  Don’t Let Go

  Deepen The Kiss

  Kisses and Wishes

  Valetti Crime Family Series:

  Dirty Dom

  His Hostage

  Rough Touch

  Cuffed Kiss

  Bad Boy

  Highest Bidder Series,

  cowritten with Lauren Landish:

  Bought

  Sold

  Owned

  Given

  Bad Boy Standalones,

  cowritten with Lauren Landish:

  Inked

  Tempted

  Mr. CEO

  Happy reading and best wishes,

  W Winters xx

 

 

 


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