Light It Up Red

Travis

Red. You could say it’s my favorite color.

There’s nothing like seeing the lights go red after I’ve scored a goal.

The red she paints her lips, f***ing hypnotizing.

That’s the image I choose to focus on now.

It’s a hell of a lot better than the red of the blood currently staining my shirt. Or the red of the flashing lights surrounding me.

When I wake up in a hospital bed, my first thought is those red lips and the girl who owns them.

Except she’s not here.

Liliana

Most men I date are scared away as soon as they meet my family.

Travis isn’t most men. He’s stared down the barrel of my father’s gun without flinching.

He should have run, though.

If he had, he wouldn’t be lying in a hospital bed right now.

I never wanted to believe my family would be capable of doing this. But that little voice in the back of my head likes to remind me of who I am. Who I’ll always be.

Liliana Valentino, daughter of Theo Valentino, the current Don of the Valentino Crime Family.

Sometimes you have to break hearts to keep them beating. At least that’s what I’m telling myself as I walk away from the only man brave enough to fight for me.