Page 101 of The Gangster King

When I was about to debark, Gianna grabbed my arm. “Tell Adelina I said hello. And...tell her what you’re planning. I have a feeling she might not think so differently. If she loves you, she’ll be happy.”

Yeah, but if not, I’d have to kill her.

I couldn’t have her walking around with all that information.

A truck whizzes past, bringing me back to the present.

I wind up the window and rest back in the leather seat of the SUV we rented.

Ricky and Vinny went back to New York. Now I have Dom and Mikey with me.

“Get us a room and take shifts watching her. I want to know every move she makes.” I tell them as I watch her shadow through the net curtains. My fingers itch to go to her.

“Or if she leaves.”

Soon I will make my move.

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

ADELINA

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I drop my bags on the floor and smile. I’m here!

Everything I’ve worked for the past few years, and nearly lost thanks to a stupid sexy gangster, has finally come together.

My new home.

Staying at the motel for a couple of nights was unplanned, but all I did was eat and sleep. Like my soul was tired and just needed to rest.

Now I’m home. Or at least it will feel like home, eventually.

My last conversation with Dante comes flooding back.

Come home.

I don’t know where home is.

Maybe I’ll get a puppy. Or a couple of fish. Some potted plants and redecorate. Then it will start to look and feel less like an empty shell.

I walk farther into the small space and take in the chipped paint, the old fixtures. But it’s mine and I’m free.

It’s perfect.

My furniture arrives in the next few hours, most of it anyway, and I’m already filled with ideas about what I want it to look like. I might paint a wall in the living room to create a feature and put the sofa in front of it. A tall palm in the corner. A lamp and nice rug.

I glance down. The carpet isn’t as great as the photos showed.

Never mind. Rugs are fine.

I step into the bedroom and check the bathroom is decent. The shower curtain needs replacing...and I will be doing some scrubbing in the next few hours.

It’s a far cry from the enormous twenty-bedroom mansion I grew up in. No one needs a home that big—not when the price tag on it is blood.

I skip back out to the living room and grab my bags. I have a limited budget now but was able to buy a few more necessities. Shorts and t-shirts from Target. A six-pack of cotton underwear.

Everything I’ve previously owned has been designer and stupidly expensive. In fact, I have no idea what they cost. I just swiped my Baldoni credit card, and my father paid the account.

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