Semua Bab The Butcher - A Mafia romance : Bab 91 - Bab 100

A thought had been at the back of my mind for a long time, for years, but I’d never had the opportunity to ask for answers. “Why haven’t you told Mom?” I had no doubt she didn’t have any idea, because if she knew, she’d never speak to me again.He didn’t say anything.“Why?” I pressed. “She’d turn her back on me if she knew. That’s exactly what you’d want, right?”He remained quiet.I waited for him to explain.“Because it would kill her, Bastien. Don’t think for a fucking second that I’m protecting you. I’m protecting her—because she’d swallow a bunch of sleeping pills and never wake up if she knew it was you.”I let his words bite into me with sharp fangs. I felt no guilt for my actions, but I felt like shit for what I’d done to my mother. I’d made her a widow decades sooner than she needed to be. “It doesn’t have to be this way, Godric.”“If you’re going to tell us how to do business, then yes, it needs to be this way.”“You make it sound like you’re the one gunning for me.”It was

“I came here to see if you’ve changed your mind about the business. I have to report to Oscar this week, and if I give him the answer he doesn’t want to hear, he’s coming for your head. Reconsider, Adrien.”“Tell him to come. Like I give a fuck.”“Adrien, your life is a lot more valuable than money⁠—”“Is it?” he asked incredulously. “I lost the one thing that mattered…so nothing matters. My own family hates me for what I did. My father doesn’t look at me the same anymore. Now that I’m free to fuck around all I want, there’s not a single woman I desire except for the one who doesn’t want me anymore.”I almost pitied him. Almost. “Just because you and Fleur aren’t together anymore doesn’t mean she doesn’t care about you, Adrien. She doesn’t want you dead in an oil drum off the coast somewhere in the Atlantic.”His eyes glazed over like he didn’t hear what I said. “Work is all I have, and I’m not giving it up.”“Adrien—”“I have nothing to live for. I love her with all my heart, but tha

“I can’t not go.”“It’s called a sick day.”“But my boss knows I’m not sick.”“But you’re fucking him, so you can do whatever the hell you please.” He kissed my shoulder. “You aren’t going. We’ll sleep in and go out to breakfast.”“God, that sounds nice.”He kissed me again. “Then it’s settled.”When I woke up, it was past eleven.I’d slept so well, without any nightmares, and it seemed as if that horrible dream had never happened in the first place. When I stepped into the bathroom, Bastien was in the shower, like he’d just finished his morning workout.It was the first time I’d had my things at his place, so after I used the toilet, I stood at the counter, brushed my teeth, and got ready for the day.He stepped out of the shower and dried off with the towel before he walked to me, buck naked with plump muscles from his workout, and he grabbed my ass underneath my shirt and kissed me. “Morning.”“Morning.”He moved to the other sink and started to shave.I watched him in the mirror,

His eyes were still on the Eiffel Tower.“He said he would shoot me if I didn’t do it—so my brother did it instead.” He spoke with melancholy, his eyes glazed over in old memories. “Shot her right in the fucking head…and we never spoke about it.”My hand finally left my mouth when the shock had passed. It was hard to picture Bastien as a boy when he was a six-foot-three man who could pick up a truck. Hard to picture a time when he was innocent and scared. But when I did, it hurt me. It hurt me so much. “I’m sorry, Bastien.”The sound of his name brought him back to me, his eyes connecting with mine again, still dead.“Thank you for telling me that… I know that was hard.”He stared at me for a while. “It wasn’t hard to tell you, not when I can tell you anything.”I didn’t expect him to say that, and I didn’t expect it to hit me so hard. His words slipped under my skin and hit all my buttons. He controlled my heart like a puppeteer and made me dance and sing.He looked at the Eiffel Tow

I tried to gather my response, debating on telling her the truth or saying what she wanted to hear. “It’s not ideal…but I know it’s a package deal.” Bastien told me he wouldn’t give up his lifestyle for anyone, that if a woman didn’t accept it, then she wasn’t the right person for him. I wasn’t sure what kind of future we had, but I didn’t want it to end before it had to.I kept my eyes on my chicken so I wouldn’t have to see Bastien stare at me. I could certainly feel his look.“Why does it bother you?” she asked.Did she really just ask me that? “Well…wasn’t your husband killed because of his work?” I looked up from my dinner to see her guarded stare.Like she was surprised I’d asked that.“I didn’t mean to offend you,” I said. “I just…that’s something that scares me.” I didn’t tell her what had happened with Bastien in the restaurant a couple days ago. Didn’t want to frighten her when she’d already been through enough. “Honestly, I’d rather be with someone with a more…traditional l