"Ya... ah..."
"What is it, baby?"
He pointed at the swing in the distance.
"Want to play on that?" Lorenzo asked.
"Ya!" Leo waved his little hands excitedly.
Lorenzo picked him up. "Tara, you rest. I'll take him to play."
"Okay."
I watched Lorenzo carry Leo toward the swing, their silhouettes stretching long in the sunlight.
Lorenzo carefully placed Leo in the baby swing, fastened the safety belt, then gently pushed.
Leo giggled, his little hands waving. The scene was so heartwarming it made me want to cry.
I looked down at the aurora bracelet on my wrist. Sunlight hit it, making the silver chain gleam softly. I raised my hand, wanting to take it off. But when my fingers touched the clasp, I couldn't undo it.
"Forget it." I lowered my hand. "I'll try again another day."
Chapter Thirty-Four
Kholod
"Speak."
My voice cut through the air like ice, the gun barrel pressed against the forehead of the man kneeling before me.
Allen McBride, Kieran's right-hand man. This bastard had been lying low until last night, when my men dragged him out of some run-down apartment in Newark.
"I'll tell you... I'll tell you everything..." He was trembling like a leaf, urine staining his pants. "Mr. Morozov... please spare my life..."
"Then start talking." I tapped his skull with the gun barrel. "Marco Bellucci. What really happened back then?"
"It was... it was Kieran who forced him..." Allen's voice shook. "Marco owed Kieran gambling debts, couldn't pay up. Kieran threatened to go after his daughter... he had no choice."
My finger tightened on the trigger.
"His daughter?"
"Yeah... that girl Noelle... Kieran knew Marco loved his daughter most, so he used her as leverage."
"What information did he leak?"
"Some... some trivial stuff..." Allen swallowed hard. "Places youfrequented, your license plate numbers, and that you'd be passing through South District that night... but he didn't know Kieran had set up an ambush!"
"And his death?"
"That was Kieran..." Allen was shaking all over. "He silenced him, made it look like suicide... then spread rumors that you drove him to it..."
My breathing suddenly grew heavy.
So Marco Bellucci never wanted to kill me. Everything was just to protect Noelle.
"Who else was involved in this scheme?"
