One tear slipped down her cheek as she reached for the glass. As soon as it was in her hand, she wiped the tear away, probably thinking no one would ever see it.
I did.
For the first time, I truly understood what Joe had meant. What Neil had brought to my attention.
How it was possible for someone to pull the lonely out of someone else.
Edna’s lonely seemed to reach out to mine and pull it from a deep, dark place and dance cheek to cheek with it. It whispered to me all the things I’d never have—a home, a family, true love.
For a split second, it made me want to run away and find all those things and hide behind them. But when I snapped back to myself, all I could think about was running back to my office, even if the loneliness crept behind me like a shadow when I did.
I wasn’t much of a pacing kind of person, but it seemed like I was going to run the floor thin with my tracks. I had to focus. Forget about the scene in Edna’s office. Delete the conversation with Neil. Erase the phone call with my sister. Backspace Aren’s words about family coming first.
Call Kirill,a voice in my brain suggested.
Kirill Balabanov was a Russian gangster who was obsessed with me, and though he was freaky in the bedroom, he was also a cuddler. I honestly didn’t have it in me to sidestep a lot of his sweeter gestures. And Kirill Balabanov could get possessive. I might find myself locked on a plane with him with no way out. Especially if they deported him again. Lilo was the one I usually called when I had issues with Kirill, but since Lilo wouldn’t be around for a while, I had to be fifteen steps ahead instead of ten.
I plopped down on my sofa/pull-out situation and blew out a heavy breath. The rain was coming down harder, hitting the office window with constant taps, just like Hoffa was doing to the top of my head from above me. My hair got caught in her claws, and she started popping me even harder to get free.
Maybe she’d knock some sense into me. Make this entire week make sense.
I closed my eyes, my brain in overdrive, but after a while, I must have fallen asleep. I woke up because I felt like someone was watching me. In my line of work, it becomes second nature to be more sensitive to it.
My office was dark, and the rain was still at it. I sat up some, blinking at a pool of blackness that couldn’t be penetrated with eyesight alone. It didn’t seem like anyone, but if someone was dressed in all black, it could have been.
My breath caught and I sat back on the sofa when someone did appear out of it a second later. He or she was dressed in a black robe that covered not only the body but the head. The mask was elongated into a frozen scream.
I leaned forward a little and narrowed my eyes. It was one of those kiddie costumes made for Halloween. The mask was from the movieScream.
“Make a noise and you will die.” The voice was distorted, and I couldn’t tell if it was a man or woman. It was the same voice who had called me and gave me the information on the Faustis.
“I don’t plan to.”Good.My voice sounded normal. Still sleepy. No matter how many times I found myself in these sorts of situations, I never knew how my voice would react. I was proud to report that most of the time, it came out just right. “You never called me back. I’ve been waiting.”
That made him or her pause. “You will still get the information, but I need more from you now. You will go to Italy, and come November, you will infiltrate the Fausti family. As I said, I need more information on them.”
“And if I don’t?”
“Youwilllose someone.”
The threat brought back a memory from earlier.You have lost someone?The taxi cab driver.
“I might lose a lot more if I go against the Fausti family. I don’t even know you.”
In a few strides he made it to me and held a knife to my throat. The metal pressed against my skin, and as he started to cut, it felt like a cold flame was burning my flesh while hot blood tried to put it out, even after the knife stopped.
“I do not mind killing women. And I have one in mind—a pregnant one.”
My sister.
“Yeah, all right. I’ll go.”
In a swish of fabric, he moved toward the door, and only the white of the mask was visible through the pool of darkness. I sat up even further, my hand clawing the end of the sofa to keep me steady.
“How did you get inside this building?” I didn’t expect him to answer, but it suddenly occurred to me that the only people who had access to the inside were the peopleonthe inside.
Danger had finally made it beyond the security doors of my fortress. I wasn’t sure if anywhere would be safe for me ever again. Edna had made this place close to impenetrable.
“I will be in touch soon,” the strange voice echoed as the figure disappeared through the doorway.
