Flattened pliers.Thin wire.The knife that doesn’t look dangerous until it’s already ruined everything.
They shove me into the chair. Plastic snarls as it cinches around my wrists. Too tight. Instantly too tight. Fire blooms beneath the bands, then spreads up my arms in hot, merciless lines. Every heartbeat drives the zip ties deeper.
Carlo takes his time.
He sits across from me like we’re about to share espresso. Cuffs clean. Jacket smooth. His mouth rehearses sympathy it doesn’t feel. He flips the knife open slowly enough to make the click intimate.
A promise.
“You should have stayed away from Giovanni’s church,” he says softly. Not angry. Almost kind. “You should have left the King’s secrets buried.”
I bare my teeth. It’s either that or cry.
He reaches out and tips my chin with the flat of the blade. “Tell me where the ledger is.”
The air holds its breath.
My laugh tears out of me—wrong and cracked and sharp enough to hurt my throat. It surprises even me. It ricochets off the walls like a confession I don’t believe in.
“You’ll kill me either way,” I say. My voice trembles. My spine doesn’t. “So, no.”
For a flicker of a second, something like disappointment crosses his face. As if I canceled plans.
Carlo exhales through his nose and nods once—like I’ve only confirmed what he already knew. “You’re right.”
Then, he drives the knife down.
It spears the table inches from my thigh.
Wood splits with a sound like bone breaking. Dust lifts in a quiet scream. The blade shivers where it’s buried.
My heart detonates.I taste metal.
I lock my jaw.
Force the scream back.
Everything inside me goes silent except for the pulse in my ears. I stare straight ahead, chin high like armor.
Because if Santino hears me—
If my voice leaks through that door even once—
He will break.
And he cannot break.
I will not be the sound that ruins him.
Carlo studies my face like he’s waiting for a melody only he can hear. When he doesn’t get it, his eyes change—not in anger.
Curiosity.
“You’re braver than you look,” he murmurs.
“I had practice,” I say.
And I think of my father.
