“I want my brother back, but you can’t give me that, can you? He was an innocent man caught in the crossfire of one of your stupid gunfights, and you killed him.”
The sun mocked me by placing a halo of light around his dark, perfectly styled hair. It gleamed against the gold chain and flower of life pendant dangling around his neck, only adding to his world-dominion aura.
I shoved him, but he didn’t even budge. Someone chuckled. I shoved him again and again.
“Is that why you fed me? Was it a guilt sandwich? Did you really think that would make anything better?” The jeers and snickers of his lackeys spurred me on in my rage. I slapped at him, punched, and lashed out with everything I had. He blockedsome. He let others land. He didn’t retaliate, and I hated him even more for it. I screamed. My eyes filled with tears, and my chest squeezed. When my arms couldn’t take anymore and fell to my sides, sore and exhausted, I slumped to my knees, then my rear. “I hate you! I hate you…”
“Che palle.” Iannelli groaned, whatever that meant. He tossed his head back and swept a hand down his face, muttering more incomprehensible Italian. “You get it all out? Feel better?”
I heaved through the tears flowing down my face faster than I could wipe them away.
“You took everything. Everything! Don’t you get that? Don’t you care?”
I needed him to admit it. I needed him to be my monster. The villain in my story, whom I could blame for all the wrongs in my life, but he gave me nothing. No denial. No confession. Even now, he didn’t care. His empty stare was heartless.
“I swear I’m going to destroy you, even if it’s the last thing I do. I’ll make you regret everything you ever did.”
He crouched before me, his pose nonchalant, almost careless. His shadow blocked the sun. “How exactly would you do that, little girl? You have no family. No money. No means. Nothing but a scraggly notepad and a pen.”
“They got your attention, though, didn’t they?”
His creeping smile was less than friendly. “Those letters were the whim of a child, spoken like a spoiled little brat who didn’t get her way.”
“I’ll tell the whole world about the cops up your sleeve and how you kidnapped—”
He grasped my chin in an unforgiving grip.
“I’ve killed men for less.”
“I’m not scared of you,” I mumbled, mouth scrunched in his grasp.
“Don’t lie. You’re trembling.”
I shook my head as much as I could. “Only with how much I wish I could kill you myself.”
“Strong words for acerbiatta. One harsh twist, andpop, your neck breaks.” The grip on my chin tightened painfully, and I saw the debate in his eyes. The hesitation. The turmoil. His nostrils flared, and his eyes widened. For a moment, I really thought he would do it before he forcefully nudged my chin to the side and released me. Back upright, his presence loomed. “Do you even know why you’re here?”
I blinked up at him. The answer made me more nervous than the idea of him killing me. I’d contemplated a lot of reasons for the abduction on the drive over, but that was before I knew he ordered it.
“Your brother was well acquainted with my father and an outlaw motorcycle club with heavy ties to the sex trade and the abduction of young women. A good ol’ messenger boy with no scruples. You know what I think,piccola? I think he got exactly what he deserved.”
My breath caught. No, Noah would never. He was good. He was the best the world had to offer. He was my rock, my idol. “You’re lying.”
Again, that smile tilted his lips. “I don’t lie if I have nothing to gain.”
“Stop it.” I gritted my teeth.
His smile was cruel, one that hid so many secrets I cringed beneath it.
“Don’t you think I have better things to do with my days than entertain a grungy schoolgirl who looks like she last showered a month ago?” To emphasize his point, he wiped his hands on a handkerchief.
I shook my head. “No, Noah would never. Never. He wouldn’t. You’re lying. You’ve got the wrong person.”
“Younever wondered why he was there? Why his body was found near Elio Iannelli’s?”
“No. It’s not true.” Tears flowed down my face. My whole body shook. “No, no.”
“Looks to me as though you’re as clueless as he was. Careful you don’t meet the same fate,piccola. Take her home.”
