Total pages in book: 128
Estimated words: 123153 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 616(@200wpm)___ 493(@250wpm)___ 411(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 123153 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 616(@200wpm)___ 493(@250wpm)___ 411(@300wpm)
All emotions I can’t and won’t show. I miss my best friend. Nyla was the only one I could talk to about this. Jace is too angry with us for me to talk to him. I get it, I see what this has done to him as well.
I pull my phone from my pocket and pull up the picture Ny sent me to tell me she was leaving almost a year ago. It’s of her and Lizzy from last Halloween.
They are both dressed as Nubian, the Black Wonder Woman. Ny looks happy on the surface, but I can see the sadness in her eyes. The ring arrived the next day.
I run my thumb over the picture. I miss her. I want her home.
“There’s so much I want to say,” I say as if she were in front of me.
She’s left Italy, but I don’t know where to. Holly and Kamiko aren’t revealing much to me. I’m pissed, on the one hand, but proud of them on the other. They’re protecting their master, just like I’ve always wanted.
My dolls have always been for Ny. Her army to keep her safe when I couldn’t. Now more than ever, I know where I’m going is going to place a target on her back.
The dolls are mine as an extension of her. All I do revolves around my love for her. Even this distance I’ve allowed.
I’ve only allowed it because I needed to dot my i’s and cross my t’s. There is one last thread I need to pull before it all comes together.
Kingston mentioned a favor he did for my mother and grandfather. I want to know what it was. I have a feeling it’s something I should know. They’re still holding secrets and I like to have all the cards on the table before placing my bets.
My phone rings in my hand, pulling me from my thoughts. Nonno’s name pops up on the screen. Lucas and Frances have been on the other side for a visit. Frances has been begging my grandfather for mercy he can’t give.
He was better off staying here to talk to me, but he’s one of the puppets who still think Dario is going to be Don, not me. Consequences come with misinformation.
“Hello, Nonno. How you doing?”
“I’m good, my Michelangelo. How are you?”
“Can I be honest?”
“It’s the only way I’ve taught you to be.”
“I don’t know. I’ve been lost without her. What if I’ve done all this wrong? I haven’t even had a chance to tell her all I’ve learned.”
“You’ve done what was best. Tell me, where is she?”
I sigh and rub my forehead. “I don’t know. She was with Ma, but she’s gone, and Ma doesn’t know where.”
“She will come to you when the time is right. Don’t lose focus. You can finish this. You and your brothers are ready. America is ready and Italy needs you too. You’re the answer, Gio. Don’t forget that.”
“How can I?”
“I know this has all been a lot and most of it is a shock.”
He could say that again. I work my jaw, feeling like the pawn I’ve been. I’m a fast thinker, but when it comes to emotional things, I tend to process my feelings longer.
I’ve tried to step out of my anger and the picture to see this for what it is. I wanted to know everyone’s goal I now have that knowledge in abundance.
Now I have to line up my next moves with that information. I’ve had enough time to be in my feelings, it’s time I right this ship and sail into my destiny whether it’s been tampered with or not.
This goes beyond Riccardo, beyond Ma. What’s my why in all of this? This is what I’m still sorting out.
Protecting and restoring your family. That’s who you are. I know it’s true even as the thoughts ring in my ear.
“There’s one more thing. Something more personal to me,” Nonno says with an eerie calm, grabbing my full attention.
“What’s that?”
“Your mother wasn’t my only choice when I wanted to name a successor. She had a cousin I considered. While visiting America and spending time with Ava, someone made an attempt on her life. Marco jumped in the way and took the bullet.
“Ava and her friends saved his life. Pat Mitchell saw to the wound and made sure he didn’t die. Then our Bajan friends helped Ava to get him back home alive,” he says.
I stand with my mouth open. I know we have cousins in Naples, and they’ve always been wary of us, but now it makes sense. Our life has brought them nothing but danger.
First my great-uncles, then one of their sons. This generation doesn’t even come close to us. The way my aunts have pulled my cousins away from me has always stung a bit. Now I get it.