Total pages in book: 197
Estimated words: 199143 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 996(@200wpm)___ 797(@250wpm)___ 664(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 199143 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 996(@200wpm)___ 797(@250wpm)___ 664(@300wpm)
Emma was smiling.
Because of him.
“Would you like something to drink?” he asked her.
Emma nodded. “I think we should. A break would be good.”
Naz agreed. “Find some shade, and I’ll bring it out to you, Grandmama.”
His grandmother pulled the glove from her hand. Reaching across the shrubbery bush that kept them separated, Emma patted Naz on the cheek with her warm, weathered palm. “You’re a good boy, hmm?”
Twenty, and he was still a boy to her.
Like he was to his ma, too.
Naz didn’t mind.
“Is there anything else you want me to get you, Grandmama?”
Emma grinned conspiratorially. “Well, if you think we could use an extra pair of hands out here, I am sure you could convince your grandfather to join us.”
Right.
Nazio seriously doubted that. Calisto was a lot of things, but a man who worked with his hands was not one of them. He blamed it on the fact that his grandfather had always held a special love for the piano, and that meant taking care of his hands as much as possible.
“I’ll see what I can do,” he told Emma.
She nodded, and pulled one last weed as he stood up. He was quick to help her up to her feet as well, but without waiting for her to ask. Once his grandmother was situated in the shade under her favorite sitting area, Naz headed for the house.
He was just pulling a picture of iced tea from the fridge when his grandfather came to lean in the entryway of the kitchen with a knowing smile.
“What?” Naz asked.
“Has she tired you out yet?”
“Very much.”
Calisto chuckled. “She does love that garden.”
“She better for all the work she puts into it.”
“And you, too.”
“Hmm?”
Naz glanced back at his grandfather as he pulled two glass cups from the cupboard, and then proceeded to set them down on the island to fill with the iced tea. “What do you mean?”
“She loves you, Naz,” his grandfather explained. “She would have been happy had you came and took her out for lunch, but I know she appreciates this more than she’ll say.”
Huh.
“I know,” he said.
“Thank you for not complaining, and indulging her.”
Naz shrugged. “Why wouldn’t I, Grandpapa?”
Calisto nodded. “Exactly, Naz.”
Family was everything.
That lesson had started with Calisto.
He passed it onto Cross.
And now it was Naz’s turn to carry it on.
“Good men aren’t born,” Calisto told his grandson.
Naz nodded. “They’re made.”
The Marcello Side
“All right, kid, there you are,” Ronnie said.
In the backseat of his enforcer’s Hummer, Naz did his best not to roll his eyes at being called kid by a guy who couldn’t be more than twenty-five. Even if he had a good ten years on Naz, he just didn’t understand why the asshole insisted on calling him a kid all the time when it was clear Naz didn’t like it. He only made the effort not to roll his eyes because—usually—he did actually like this enforcer. He didn’t want a new one because he opened his stupid mouth and caused a problem. Plus, Ronnie let him get away with more shit than the last one did.
All wins in Naz’s book.
“Stop calling me that,” Naz muttered, shoving open the back door.
His feet had just hit the paved driveway leading up to his grandparents’ three-level home when the enforcer in the front seat replied, “You might be a fucking genius, Naz, but you’re still just a fifteen-year-old boy to me. Call me when you’re ready to leave, you hear me?”
Naz sighed. “Yeah, I hear you.”
So was his life.
“And wipe that scowl off your motherfucking face, too, kid. You know better than to walk around looking sour being who you are and all.”
Dammit.
Naz fixed his face.
If only because he didn’t want to keep going a round with his enforcer. He swore Ronnie acted like his keeper, babysitter, and mentor just as much as he did his guard. Naz didn’t entirely think that was his job, but since nobody ever corrected the guy, well, what could he do or say?
Nothing.
That’s just how it worked.
Despite his irritation with the enforcer, when Ronnie waved to him as he headed for his grandparents’ house, Naz waved back. After all, even if Ronnie parented him way more than he should, he still liked the fucker.
Naz climbed the stairs to the entrance of the large home, not at all surprised to find his Grandpapa, Dante, already waiting for him in the opened doorway. Even if there were a million other things he’d rather be doing on a Friday night, seeing his grandfather waiting had him grinning to match Dante’s smile.
“What was that all about, huh?” his grandfather asked.
“What?”
Dante nodded to somewhere behind Naz, still not moving from the doorway so the two of them had to stay standing like they were with him on the porch and his grandfather in the doorway. “You and your driver.”
Oh, that.
“He just gets on my nerves.”