Page 59 of Entangled
Even though I’d been here before, it still didn’t take away the shock value of it. I’m sure Kade’s family had so much money they didn’t know what to do with it, and this house hadn’t even put a dent in their fortune.
I took a deep breath and waited for Isaac to come around and open the door. But when I looked up at the man who had opened the door, it was Kade who stood there, in all his dark, hot, Mafia man glory.
“Soren,” he greeted, offering me his arm to take.
“Kade,” I replied with ease, wondering where his cold shoulder was coming from. Had something happened?
I held onto his arm, noticing how stiff he was beside me as we made our way inside the front doors.
“Are you okay?” I whispered, as we inched closer and closer to the table filled with his brothers.
“Absolutely,” he replied, not even glancing my way.
What the fuck?
Something wasn’t right. I could feel it in my bones. But maybe it wasn’t about me. Maybe I was overthinking it and being dramatic. Maybe the stress of signing over everything was getting to me.
Not entirely impossible.
I never thought I’d be able to leave this life behind, even if Lilah was still alive. I thought I’d be a prisoner forever. I didn’t think I’d be able to let go of the life that felt like the last piece of my father I could hold on to.
But that's the point of letting go. To learn. To move on. To grow from it. If we spend our entire lives holding on to things that are working to slowly destroy us, we'll never have room to let in the things that will have the ability to rebuild us.
I held my head up high as I walked into the room full of some of the most powerful men in Boston and brushed off whatever was happening with Kade. It was the only thing I could do to get through this.
Mafia men smelled weakness on people, and I didn’t have time to be weak anymore.
Weak Soren was gone. I’d killed her and tossed her in the marina.
26
KADE
I watchedwith pain in my chest as Soren walked into the den that held my brothers, my mother, and Vanessa.
Because she was closing this chapter on her life, and I had to admit to myself that I was a part of that chapter that she was going to close. Whether she wanted to admit it to me or not. She wanted out of that life, and this was for the best.
I was a fool to ever think I could leave this life behind and be with Soren. She had been through enough shit in her life, and I didn’t want to cause her anymore pain.
They always used to say if you loved something to let it go, and even though I feel like I was losing a part of myself, I wanted what was best for Soren. She deserved to be happy, even if I wasn’t.
“Mrs. Peirano, please have a seat,” Finn said calmly, already embracing his role as the head man. I’d explained that Soren had wanted to meet with him but not the part about her wanting to sign over everything she’d been left by Jude and Lilah. I couldn’t bring myself to tell him. Soren had to break the news herself.
I pulled the chair out for Soren, and she sat down slowly. Although she was pretending to be strong, I could tell she wasnervous. She’d seen my family before, but even I could admit that something about this time felt different.
Not to mention we were all intimidating as hell when we were together, except for my mom. Elizaveta Luchetti was one of the sweetest women on the planet. One look at her and nobody would be able to believe she had been married to a powerful Mafia boss.
But seeing her sitting at the table now, a newly widowed woman, I could tell that something had broken inside of her. The happiness that used to radiate from her was now shrouded by a cloud of darkness. One that she had fought so hard to get rid of after Ava was taken from us.
My mother had the option to take over the responsibilities for the Mafia, but she’d refused and nobody could blame her.
The only other woman in the meeting was Vanessa, and she even had a serious tone about her for once. It was eerie how dark everyone’s moods seemed to be today. The only time I saw her break her dark mood was when she looked at Soren and gave her a small, encouraging smile.
“Kade hasn’t told me what this meeting pertains to, so you have the floor, Mrs Peirano,” Finn said, gesturing toward the table with his hands. I couldn’t resist rolling my eyes at his dramatics.
He’d been in this role not even six weeks and he was already acting like he was hot shit. But if there was one thing Finn never did, it was anything half-assed.
“Well, with Lilah and Jude being gone, everything falls to me, aside from what Jude’s father has control over. But any other assets and money or land or whatever that was left to me, I’d like to sign it over to you and your family.”
