She slapped my hand when I reached out to clean it, but then she let me—maybe because of the look on my face. I wasn’t fucking around.
“What are you going to do with me, Mr. Big?”
“Besides fuck you until you’re crying out, I haven’t decided yet.”
“You’ll have to force me.”
“We’ll see.” I rubbed my jaw. “I’m not going to ask again. What the fuck possessed you to steal from me?”
“I’m sure you don’t even remember this, but you sent a man to break my little brother’s arm. And when I say little, I mean a sixteen-year-old. He’s not a boy, but he’s definitely not a man yet. What kind of cruel bastards do that?”
Jerry Rispoli.
“You must hire real winners to do your dirty work for you. I’m not sure how deep my brother is in, but I want him out.”
The boy whose arm Rispoli fractured came to life in my head—he was someone’s brother. And it was giving me an entirely different picture of Leonora Kallistos.
Her brother wasn’t in, and Rispoli wasn’t going to be breathing for much longer, but I had to fucking confirm my gut feeling.
“At what cost?
She visibly steeled herself. “Whatever I have to do. Even his life for mine.”
“Angelo, that his name?”
She barely nodded.
“You felt you were owed because he needed medical attention.”
“Yeah.” She wiped her eyes, smudging her makeup. “And you know what happened, Mr. Big? My brother had a reaction to the anesthesia. Because your man fractured his arm and he had to have surgery on it. My brother almost didn’t wake up.”
“It cost—”
“Fuck the money. I. Almost. Lost. My. Sixteen. Year. Old. Brother.”
She was keeping her emotions in check, but I could hear the tremble behind her words. It was a mixture of pure anger and overwhelming sadness.
“You think I did this to you?”
“Men always do this kind of thing. Fracture.”
“Are you fractured, Ms. Kallistos?”
She grinned, but it wasn’t pleasant. “If you could only see me on the inside. I look like an ancient statue… of Aphrodite, you called me? And just like the carved versions… My heart is fireproof, and all the love has been drained out of me.”
Fuck.
I took a step toward her, but this time she didn’t move.
“Your brother is free. You have my word.”
Her eyes widened, her shoulders visibly relaxed, but then she tensed. “What about me?”
“You stole from me. That means you owe me.Big.”
CHAPTER6
Leonora
