“This motherfucker has a degree in chemistry.” Connor grabs the thin hair on top of Verone’s head, holding him still. “Created a little concoction in his lab. Cyanide with a liposome, did you say? Some slow-acting agent. It’d get flushed out of a healthy person, but with your family’s history of liver issues…”
Beads of sweat frame Verone’s red, blotchy forehead and cheeks. “Please, Caterina, listen to me.” He licks his lips with a pale tongue. “I can reverse it?—”
“I can reverse it, too, jackass!” Connor smacks the side of Verone’s head. “Caterina can. Danny can. The fucking sewer rat in the corner can, now that we all know what you did.” He sucks in a breath, exhales slowly, and returns his gun to the side of Danny’s head. “Do it, Cat.”
The urge to exact revenge courses through my veins, transforming me, empowering me. Images of my father wheezing, fainting, moaning in pain. Unable to eat. Incontinent. Pleading with us to stop treatment because he’d rather die quickly with some dignity than shrivel away in front of his children a little more each day.
I’m so thankful we refused him that wish.
Facing Verone directly, I view my old self in his eyes. A coward.
I don’t want to kill him. I don’thaveto.
If I do, though, I’ll save my father. With a few words in front of a judge, Verone could take down our entire operation.
If the Riccis stand any chance of survival, Domenico Verone must die.
His actions condemned my father to an agonizing death. A quick finish is more than he deserves.
With the barrel at center mass, I pull the trigger.
The kickback jars me. My eyes close against the deafening crack as my feet stumble backward.
Verone groans before going quiet. Gun smoke curls up my nose and coats my throat, etching this newest memory into the canvas of my mind. I start believing I might keep my eyes shut forever, but they fly open when the chains binding usclankonto the floor.
Newly liberated, Danny stares at me with calm, stone gray eyes and steps forward.
I shake my head. “Go. It’s okay.” As I inhale, I taste smoke and blood. “Please don’t tell anyone about this.”
Danny glances at Connor, then at Verone’s slumped body, then back at me. He nods once, and disappears.
When he does, I drop the gun with a clatter.
With nothing but adrenaline and instinct fueling me, I rush into Connor’s arms.
Chapter 17
Connor
Cat clings to me, her face pressed against my chest. Her shoulders shake, her warm tears dampening my shirt and mixing with cooled sweat.
“Cat.” I nose at her wild curls and inhale her floral scent. “Cat…” I’m not even sure what to say.
That I trust her? Though I’m not sure it’s the right time to admit it, I do now. I should let her know this feeling—like a loose shingle in a windstorm—will ease. The unsteadiness won’t ever vanish entirely, but she’ll learn to live with it, to stuff it behind some old box of memories in the dark recesses of her mind.
Taking your first life stays with you. Shapes you.
When she raises her head, those hazel eyes shimmer with tears.
Words escape me. Nothing would be enough.
So I just cup her cheek and crush my lips to hers.
I’m hungry for her taste, her smell, her body.
Part of me wants to apologize for putting her through all this, but I shove that shit down. That’s not who I am.
I don’t regret, and I don’t apologize. My decisions led us here, and I wouldn’t change them even if I could.
