Filthy: A Bad Boy Romance Read Online Free PDF Page A

you.”
    I go still. Who’s calling me? But I think I might know. I made a few calls over the past few days looking into some programs where I might apply to keep working on my degree. I want to be a physician’s assistant—maybe even go to medical school down the road. I want to help people, not spend my life decorating the arm of a mob asshole whose life is about doing whatever it takes to hold on to his power. Lie, cheat, steal, kill—whatever.
    I try to sound uninterested. “Oh?”
    “Yeah. From UCLA. Something about a graduate program.”
    I give him a direct look. “Did you take a message?”
    His mouth tightens. “No, I did not. Do you know why I did not?”
    I know exactly why, but I say nothing. I just tilt an eyebrow at him. If he wants to be an asshole, then let him explain to me his asshole ways.
    “We’ve talked about this, Jess. I put you through college so you’d have some grounding in your education, but that’s all there is. You’re not going to graduate school. You’re sure as hell not going to medical school.”
    I don’t know why I ever told him what I really wanted out of my life. I must have just been extra stupid that day. All it did was open me up, make me more vulnerable. Silly me, thinking my own father might want to support me in my life goals. I grind my molars together and manage not to retort.
    “I’m not wasting my money on another degree for you.”
    He gets angrier when I don’t answer him. I know this, and I know there are times when it would be smarter just to have it out with him, because the quieter I am, the more dangerous he gets. But I just can’t do it today. And it’s not because I’m afraid of him. It’s because somehow, inside, I feel stronger than I have in a long time.
    “You don’t have what it takes. You’ve never stuck to anything in your life, and you barely made it through college as it was.”
    I shift a little as a pang hits my chest, because it’s just not true. I did fine in college. Didn’t break any records, but that was because I actually took classes that challenged me. Because I wanted to learn , not just skate through with some half-assed degree because Daddy was willing to pay for it.
    He’s not willing to pay for any more. He’s made that far too clear. And I can’t keep my mouth shut anymore.
    “Sure, Pops.” He hates when I call him Pops. “I got it. I keep my pretty mouth shut and I marry Carmine, and you teach him all the ropes so he can take over the family business while I spit out little babies and raise them so they can keep up the family business,” I’m damn near screaming the words now, “because God forbid somebody in this goddamn family should really take a look at what we do and make a stand.”
    “ This goddamn family ?”
    Fuck, here we go. The speech about how grateful I should be to be a scion of the Spada tree.
    “I ought to smack your fucking mouth for shitting on this family. Who pays for the clothes on your back? Who paid for your college education?”
    I take a step back. My eyes are hot. This surprises me; I learned a long time ago how to keep from letting Pop make me cry. “I just want something different. I just want something that’s mine .”
    He shakes his head. “It was good enough for your mother, and it was good enough for Sophie.”
    Of course it was good enough for Sophie. My sister doesn’t care about anything but sex, money, and Manolos. And maybe her husband. I’m never sure about that one. Seems to me he’s an asshole like all the rest of them.
    “If it’s good enough for them, then it’s damn sure good enough for you.”
    It’s not. I want to scream the words at him. I wish I did have regular textbooks so I could heave them at him. Maybe one of them would hit him in the head. But I don’t have that option. I just meet his gaze evenly and give a slow shake of my head. Then, without saying another word, I turn and start to leave the room.
    But he’s not done. “Jessica,” he