Gio
I never meant to hurt my mother. She wasn’t supposed to see us. I should have gone after her, but I was angry, young, and confused. I knew what they thought, but they were wrong.
I made a promise, one I planned to keep. However, it would cost us all. I’m the reason—the reason the twins lost their mother, the reason Ny lost her family, the reason Jace has no one. I’m the problem and the answer.
Nyla
I can’t lose them. They’re all the family I have left. Lizzy is all grown now, but she will never know what I’ve sacrificed for her, for dad, for aunt Denise, for my heart. He wanted my body, it was his, he wanted his doll collection, I let him have it.
Now I want something from him, we both do.
Jace
I’ve always wanted two things. Revenge and a family. I’ve shared everything with him since we were born. The two of them have been in my life through it all. Losing my mom and dad, having to watch my new family fall apart.
He promised he’d help me make this right, but I don’t know if he will give us what we truly want. This time we may have asked for too much.
Will this request unravel it all? Will the Di Lorenzo’s lose everything because we lost our way? Or will the ones left behind restore all that was lost?
*This is Book 3 in the Work Husband Series from bestselling, award-winning author Blue Saffire. This is part one of two and end with a cliffhanger.
*************FULL BOOK START HERE*************
Revenge is sweetest served cold, but don’t lose yourself waiting to serve it.
?BLUE SAFFIRE
PREFACE
Outcast
Gio
Ah, everyone is here. We’re ready for my turn. All eyes are on me but allow me to get some shit straight. No matter what picture has been painted about me, I’ve never been a finook.
Not that it’s anyone’s business what happens in my bed or who’s in it. It wouldn’t make a damn difference. I’d still gut you and hang you from a rusty hook by your asshole for fucking with my family.
However, Jace has never been in my bed for me. He’s only there for her. Her. She’s what holds us together. All I do is for her.
Hold on, I’m moving too fast. You’ve been peeking through the looking glass, but from the wrong angle. I need you to understand why we are who we are. Why I have a doll collection. Why there’s a doll master and curator. You need to see just what all my hand has been in.
Some may see my mother as the mastermind. Okay, I could see that too. However, even Ava Di Lorenzo didn’t see who her son would become. Yes, she has trusted me, but she’s never known the full plan. No one has. The plan to make it so no one could take away what the two most important people in my world asked me for.
I’m not just the doll collector. I’m the ultimate puppet master and genie. I grant wishes, I make shit happen.
Nyla wants to hold on to the family she has left. Jace wants a family of his own. I want to restore my family and give them both what they asked for. All within a world that says I can’t have that. An antiquated world that fears anything that’s different.
How do you exist in a world that calls you names and shakes its head at all you love? You blow that motherfucker up and show them the beauty of all that you are.
I, Don Gio Michelangelo Di Lorenzo was born for this. If you’re not for me, you’re against me, but you won’t take away what brings me joy.
It’s time we tell you our story. It’s the only way for you to understand us. Let us show all the things the others couldn’t.
CHAPTER 1
We’re Different
Nyla
Summer 1995…
“We can’t sit in silence like this all day,” I mutter into my lap.
Jace remains silent, but Gio scoffs bitterly and pulls a face. The glare he sends my way sends a chill through me. I bite my lip and stare at him pleadingly. He sinks down in his seat and fidgets with the remote against his thigh, turning it in circles over and over.
We should be having fun out by the pool like we would have done a week ago. Like normal teens or at least as close as we can get to being normal teens. We’ve been different all our lives.
Goonies plays on the TV as I sit on the floor of Gio’s bedroom with my back to the screen as Gio and Jace sit across from each other in the two game chairs, refusing to acknowledge each other. They’re both so stubborn. We all are.
Ava says it’s our battle for dominance that will bring us together or tear us a part. We all crave it, but in different ways. I’m willing to find a balance for us as friends and family, but I believe that’s the problem.
Wiping a hand across my forehead, I frown and pout. I hate this. The silence is killing me. Neither of them is watching the movie.
It’s been a hot day. We came inside to cool down, but the real discomfort is coming from the tension surrounding this room. It’s my fault. I didn’t mean for things to get like this.
However, I should have known better. This is Gio, after all. I know him better than anyone.
It’s just…I thought. I still don’t know what I thought. Mommy calls me an old soul. She says I always want to grow up too fast and I have a hard head. I think my hard head has cost me everything this time.
I’ve been in love with these two all my life. I love them both for different reasons, but I love them the same. Jace has always been there for me emotionally and I him. Gio, oh God, when it comes to Gio there is something in my soul that has always belonged to him.
The boy can have anything from me he wants. He was my first kiss and I hope someday he will be my first like he promised. We come together on a mental level too. I know how Gio thinks. People underestimate him and they are so wrong to do so.
The three of us complete each other. We’re closer than close. What started out as a crush on my two best friends has turned into something so much more.