Tangled Web: A Small Town Romance (The Cortell Brothers Book 6) by Giulia Lagomarsino (an ebook reader txt) 📕

Well, I hated him too. The kid was a spoiled, entitled brat that needed to be smacked down in life. Luckily, his father already knew this, and it took no convincing on my part to make sure that his son received none of his fortune. His sister, Elena, was right beside him. She looked about as devastated over the loss as I felt. At least I was playing my role. Elena was currently examining her nails, as if this whole thing was boring. And finally, beside her was the youngest son, Oscar. He was the only one that I felt bad for in this whole situation. I would be sure to provide for him throughout life. He was currently in college, and he had a good head on his shoulders. He was the only one out of the kids that his father asked me to make stipulations for with the money.

I stared up at the sky as the leaves fell from the trees, and I smiled happily, thinking of my husband in hell. My mother always told me that when life gave you lemons, you made lemonade. Well, I’d had far too many lemons in my life. It was time I finally got to drink the damn lemonade.

Andrew

Now that Joe and Sofia were off in fairy land with their new baby and all things wonderful in the world, I was ready to find my own place. There was no rush, of course. But I definitely had to move out before the baby came. There was no way I was dealing with a screaming kid day and night.

Walking into the diner, I nodded to the cute waitress behind the counter. Sammi was her name, I think. I couldn’t see her name tag from here, but I could definitely see those gorgeous blues. Damn, that woman was hot. She was wearing black pants and t-shirt, but damn, the way that t-shirt stretched across her chest was enough to give me a woody.

Pulling my gaze from her, I picked up the newspaper and found an empty table. Opening the newspaper, I scanned the paper for any rental ads. I could technically buy something. I had enough money set aside. But renting was so much easier for a guy like me. I didn’t want to worry about dealing with the yard or snow shoveling. I just wanted someone else to take care of it all for me.

A mug was placed in front of me and the waitress started pouring coffee. I quickly glanced up at the name tag, glad I had gotten it right. “When are you going to let me take you out, Sammi?”

Her eyebrows lifted and she grinned. Leaning forward on the table, she moved in until she was just close enough for me to feel her breath on my face. “When are you going to learn to keep your dick in your pants?”

I titled my head in confusion, but she just smiled at me. “Wait, you don’t want to go out with me?”

“Oh, you’re quick,” she grinned. “Andrew, you know I love you, but I’ve seen the women you bring home. That’s too many diseases for me to compete with.”

She turned and walked away from me, leaving me speechless. “Did she just say I was dirty?” I asked no-one in particular.

“I believe she was telling you that she’s afraid that if she goes near your dick, she’ll catch a venereal disease,” a deep voice said from behind me. It was quiet enough that only I could hear it.

I turned at the familiar voice and then stared into the eyes of the cute little boy across the table from him. Flicking my eyes back to Jack, I gave a nod. “Jack, I see you’re getting comfortable as the town sheriff again.”

“You know me,” he said quietly. “I’m just out here protecting the town, waiting for you and your brothers to fuck up so I can drag your asses down to the station.”

“What on earth would you ever arrest us for?” I asked in mock shock. “Brody, this is what your daddy and the rest of law enforcement would call entrapment.”

Jack snorted at my little talk with his kid. “In order for it to be entrapment, I would have to try and get you to do something illegal. There’s no need to coerce you to do anything. I just have to sit back and wait for one of you to do something.”

“You know none of us has done anything illegal in years.”

He shook his head with a grin. “Not from what I understand. It seems that Will was stalking a woman,” he said, like he could hardly believe it, but I knew he was fucking with me. “And Joe kidnapped a woman and held her at his apartment.”

“Right, like Joe could ever do anything like that,” I snorted. “You know he’s the most womanthetic of all of us.”

“Womanthetic?”

“Yeah, you know, he sympathizes with them the most out of any of us.”

Jack grunted before taking a sip of his coffee. “I would have assumed that was Eric.”

“Nah, Joe’s a big puppy dog. He fell hard for Sofia the minute he had her locked away in his apartment.”

“So he did kidnap her.”

My eyes went wide and I shook my head. “Uh…”

“And then there’s a story circulating that all of you went to her house in the city and kidnapped her for a second time.” He tsked as he shook his head. “Two kidnapping charges would not look good.”

“Alright, I get it. You’re pissed at all of us and you want to ruin our lives. Look, I’ll do you a solid and make sure to beat them up the next time I see them.”

“Now you’re threatening others,” Jack sighed. “Well, I think I’m going to have to take you downtown.”

My jaw dropped. “You can’t be serious.”

“You just admitted to a police officer that you were going to go out and assault not one, but six other men. Now, I just can’t let that happen.”

He stood