“Quit beating around the bush and spit it out. I’d like to get to sleep before two.”
At my bite, he chuckled. “Are you okay with the marriage?”
“I don’t have a choice, so why not?”
“Well, Liam…he’s a friend, of sorts. He’s a good man.”
I wanted to laugh. I’d seen my groom take two lives as if it were nothing. Then again, hadn’t Vincenzo just done the same damn thing?
“Look, I had a crush on you before you went to prison, but I’m not a silly little girl anymore. I know how the world works.” Howcruel and manipulative it was. “I’m going to marry for the good of the famiglia, and that will be that.”
I’ll bide my time, and then never look back.
“No, I guess you’re all grown up now,” Vincenzo murmured. “Still—”
It took a bit more back and forth, but when the clean team arrived, I was able to slip away.
Sighing, I hurried forward, much more carefully this time. In a strange way, that feeling of being watched was comforting at this point. Nothing rose to hurt me expect the pain of my situation, the ghosts of my past.
In a week, I would be married. There would be a short time to adjust, and then I would double down. Find a way to escape. The underworld wasn’t going to control my future. It wouldn’t rob me of the small life I created—and was fighting to reclaim.
Chapter 11 – Liam
The emotions bubbling inside me were a black chaos. Sticky and thick, they popped like boiling tar. There was no outlet, no place to release them. The five opportunities had been stolen from me, adding to the putrid mess inside me.
Fucking Vincenzo, playing the shining knight.
I sauntered through the capo’s house, looking at Deluca’s shit, knowing it was useless. His office was a miserable mess. There was nothing interesting there. I spent my nights searching and still came up empty. The obsessive need to know everything about the Morelli Famiglia drove me. I didn’t trust any of them, my bride included. She was part of that dangerous nest of rodents. They were setting me up, and I wasn’t going to let them take me out.
I controlled everything.
The family snoozed on the second floor, but the one I was after was one more flight of stairs above. I climbed, stepping carefully, having learned the path during the other visits. Pushing through the side door, which wasn’t cut properly to fit the frame, I slipped inside. A blue nightlight glowed on the wall, casting achilly hue over the space. It was enough to see her, though, and I crept to the side of the small bed.
“Such a little fucking innocent—” I rasped. “Look at you, lying there.”
So fucking peaceful. Dreams filled with flying ponies and shite.
I hunched against the tapered wall. Only in the center, where the ceiling evened out for a couple of feet, could I uncurl to my full height. If I lay on the floor, stretched my arms over my head, I could damn near touch each of the walls. The length wasn’t much longer.
Why was a mafia princess in such a tiny, drafty, dump of a room? It was too bleeding hot up here. The AC unit in the window whined to keep the humidity away. That thing was ancient.
I shifted uncomfortably. It was a surprise to see this, but more surprising was my reaction.
I don’t like underestimations.
That was all. It wasn’t that I felt bad for the sweetly sleeping bird, stretched out in her nest of faded blue covers.
Seeing Gabriella like this, tucked away in the damn attic, proved that something was going on with this family. I didn’t trust them. Not one bit. But…what did sticking in her in such a ratty space have to do with me? Hopefully nothing.
My fingers brushed over the thin indent under my shirt. The metal chain was warm against my skin. I could have given it back to her, but then I would only have her memory to keep me company when we were apart.
No, I preferred to keep the thin gold chain safely around my neck where it couldn’t be stolen.
Pulling a small flashlight from my pocket, I cast the beam of muted light over the floor. A threadbare rug was tucked partially under the bed. The nightstand had three books: two religious tomes and a title about a housemaid. It was a work of fiction.A thriller, and quite popular online. Such an interesting reading choice for a good little girl. Padding silently to the dresser, I put the light between my teeth. The drawers caught, not wanting to slide out.
Socks and plain, unimaginative underwear were tucked in neat rows. I felt around, finding nothing under them. My fingers paused over a pair of white panties with little black dots. They were a sensible cut, not lacy or provocative. But…they were hers.
Time slowed a fraction. My pulse jumped as I unfolded them. An image of that pretty little body wearing these drifted through my mind.
