Crouching next to the building, I narrowed my gaze as she passed the chain link fence. She didn’t stop near the hole. Didn’t look into the abandoned lot.
Funny.
Most humans would reminisce about the brutality they’d witnessed.
Still, even though she’d agreed to keep her mouth shut, I didn’t trust her. This woman was a loose end, one that had preyed upon my mind the whole day until I decided to take care of it.
She was ten paces away. I gripped the knife tight in my bare hand. Flexed the muscles of the other. The tight, itchy skin protested the motion. Luckily for me, the damage was contained to the less dominate half of my body.
At five paces, I was ready to spring. The glove would protect me from her bite as I stifled her cry. The blade flashed in readiness to slice her throat. It was a much faster death than sliding the length between her ribs. Bleeding out from a stab wound to the heart could take anywhere from two to five minutes. That kind of agony wasn’t something she needed to endure.
She stepped in front of my hiding place, and I inhaled.
Peaches.Summer.
A scent so lush and calming that it penetrated the violence coursing through me. The picture of her face sprang into my mind. The way those brown eyes had glared at me, defying me instead of fearing.
My heart thumped hard.
Whatever aura surrounded this woman had the power to make me pause. It stopped the initial spring of my legs. With a curse, I rose. She was already three steps away. Any further, and it would be hard to drag her back into the shadows. I hurried on silent feet, ready to reach out.
In that precious second, my gaze caught something in the muted light from across the street. Something I hadn’t noticed last night. Something…important.
The emblem took up the whole space on the back of her jacket. Last night, she hadn’t been wearing it. I would have recognized the embroidered logo.
Bleeding hell! I sank back into the shadows, crouching near the ground.
She stopped short. Her spine stiffened.
Whipping around, she peered into the night. Shefeltthe danger.
My molars ground together. Frustration seeped into my bones. This woman worked at Mama Ana’s Bar & Grill.
She wrapped her arms around her middle, rubbing them as though she needed warmth. It wasn’t like the summer night was chilly. The skin under my plastic mask was sticky and irritated from the sweltering heat. Why she wore the jacket in the first place was a logical question, but one that probably just saved her life.
Shaking her head, she turned and resumed her hurried walk. Each step took her farther out of my reach. Indecision made me pause. She’d probably seen my face last night, even though I’d kept it hidden in the shadows when I forced her into the lamplight. If she breathed a word about what I’d done, not only would the alliance be dissolved, but Don Morelli would send one of his killers after me.
I would hate to put a bullet in Vincenzo’s head. He’d been the one to drag me from the flames, after all. Any other Italian thug I wouldn’t think twice about killing to save my skin, burned and scarred though it was. But killing Italians would bring about a war.
And we’d only just ended one with another organization—which was why we owed the Italian in the first place.
I gave myself a hard shake. What to do about this girl?
Well, for starters, I needed to know who she was and where she lived. But, if I visited her, threatened her again, that wouldonly spur her into taking action.Dammit.There was no good option!
I needed to know who she was.
When she was far enough away, I shot to my feet and slipped from my hiding spot. I trailed her through the night, keeping my steps feather-light. Clearly, she was a creature of habit if she walked these streets alone. Maybe she lived alone. In which case, it wouldn’t be hard to smother her in her sleep.
That couldn’t be traced to me.
The thought tasted icky on my tongue. Suffocation wasn’t fast enough.
Still, it might be the only way.
I let her take a turn, waited until I was sure she hadn’t stopped. There was no doubt that she sensed me, which meant she might be hiding to see if there was danger. I counted the seconds in my mind.
I couldn’t encounter her in the open.
