Lahat ng Kabanata ng The Butcher - A Mafia romance : Kabanata 121 - Kabanata 130

“Why do you have to?”“It’s just something you should know. Something I’m not proud of, but I’m not sorry about either.”I felt my heart tumble into the abyss, and I didn’t want to think about whatever it was a moment longer. “Whose wedding are we going to?”He clearly hadn’t expected the change in subject because he stared at me for nearly a minute before he answered the question. “One of my producers. His daughter is getting married at the Four Seasons.”“Now that I have all my stuff back, I have something to wear.”“Doesn’t mean you can’t buy something new too.”“You seem to have forgotten how many clothes you moved over for me.”He gave a slight smile before he grabbed his fork and took a few more bites of his meal, his appetite back at the change in subject. “I’m sure the guys who moved everything could never forget.”“Luca will be there?”“Probably.”“Probably?”“He’s kinda flaky.”“Will you know anyone else there?”“I’ll know a ton of people there.”“A drug dealer wedding…that’

“Sweetheart.” He moved over to me, his knees on the rug, sliding his hands into my hair to pull it from my face. He swiped his thumbs over my cheeks to catch the tears that dripped to my lips.I looked at him, his face blurry from the moisture that coated my eyes. My breaths continued, labored and shaky, and I felt stark naked in a blizzard, vulnerable to the cold, with a sharp dagger to my heart.I blinked a few times, his face becoming clear.He continued to stare at me. “I have the power to hurt you, but you have the power to bring me to my knees, to make me fall stupidly and desperately in love when I thought I was incapable of feeling a damn thing. Now I have something I love more than anything, something I must protect like my life depends on it, because it does. I’m wrapped around your finger, trapped under your thumb, so hopelessly in love with you that I would burn this city if you ever left me.” He slid his hand farther into my hair and cradled my face. “But I know you won’t

“How do you know he won’t just work for a couple years then quit when he can retire?”Bastien grabbed another piece and took a bite. “If that’s his prerogative, I’ll hire someone else. But I doubt he will. I’m pretty easy to work for.”“That’s what you think.”He chuckled before he downed the rest of his slice. “He’s never complained.”“Because he’ll get fired.”“I’d only fire him if he betrayed me to my enemies or tried to fuck you. If the laundry isn’t done or there’s dust on the counter, I don’t give a shit.”“Then maybe I should have taken you up on that offer to be your whore a long time ago.”He gave me a long stare, a ghost of a smile on his lips. “It’s got a lot of perks. Great pay and a free place to live. But the job itself is a little challenging…”“Isn’t it what I do now?”He gave a slight shrug. “Close, but not quite.”The conversation took my focus off the past entirely. Now, I didn’t associate the tub with the coffin at all. “Is there something you’d like to do that I’m

He stopped several feet away, his hard expression impossible to read.I didn’t know what to say. After years of estrangement, I hadn’t expected a conversation to ever take place between us. When he spoke about family to his people, I just assumed he pretended I’d never been born and no one was stupid enough to ever say my name. I was certain my mother hadn’t mentioned me either, called me only when he was out of the house and deleted the call from the log when she was finished. She remained connected to me because she loved me, but she didn’t love me enough to actually stand up to him.He stared me down for a long time, his eyes slowly rising in anger. “You walked away from the business just to be a shit imitation? I sell lobster and you sell garbage.”Hostility was exactly what I expected. “Would have gone to university if I didn’t essentially flunk out of school.”“And it’s my fault you were too stupid to count to ten?”After two years of silence, he’d come all the way here for this

Fleur followed me, and we stepped out into the cold, under the overcast sky.Targets were mounted to the steel fence, practice for the guys when they had nothing else to do. I set the shotgun on the old, rickety picnic table there, where the guys smoked their cigars and played a round of cards when it got too stuffy inside. I set the rifle beside it and turned back to her.She looked at the target, her breath coming out as vapor. “Won’t someone hear us?”“Probably.”She stared at me but didn’t question me further.“Aim.”She grabbed the gun with two hands, one hand supporting the other, and stared at the target that was at least thirty feet away.Her stance wasn’t perfect, but she wasn’t training to be a soldier or combat operative. She just needed to shoot someone if the situation ever arose.“Fire.” I checked to see if she remembered the safety.She squeezed the trigger, and nothing happened.“The safety is the most important part of the gun. Always know when it’s on and off.”She l