SeraKillian didn’t allow me to follow him into the holding area. He quickly walked me out to the car, which he’d parked along the curb right in front of the police station. I watched him disappear back into the station, watching through the tinted windows as cops and other people dressed in business casual clothing smoked cigarettes and huddled in small groups against the cold.As odd as it sounded, Killian getting arrested had never once crossed my mind. Having grown up in this strange world that ran parallel to the real world, I knew well that most cops were paid off to turn the other direction, especially when it came to bosses and capos. Well, some capos took a fall for a boss. My own father had turned over one of his capos to avoid jail time, and that man was still in jail, almost twenty years later.That hadn’t been the first time my family had had a brush with the law. I hadn’t thought about it in years, but the memory of my mother softly shaking me awake one night when I was
KillianTommaso arrived back at my house to cheers and slaps on the back. How many times had that man eluded death recently? Too many times, in my opinion. During the drive home, I’d sent a message to all my capos, telling them to meet at my house.I’d started something big without even realizing it at the time. The day I’d flown to Jersey and gone to the auction, I thought I’d just be picking up a girl to dangle over her father’s head until he broke and was left as nothing but pieces.I had only meant to buy Delaney, nothing more.Kidnapping Seraphina Bianchi changed the trajectory of my life, and the future of my family hung in the balance now.Standing in the foyer while Tommaso was showered with attention, I turned my head, looking for Sera in the crowd. She was talking with Olivia but turned to face me with a smile on her full lips. She’d handled herself well today. She played her part, and I’d reward her for it later.“Adrian,” I said, motioning to the young man. “I need you, Pa
SeraI ripped two suitcases out of my closet. Both of them designer, never once used. Whatever Killian purchased them for didn’t matter. I wouldn’t be going anywhere with him ever again.Stupid, stupid girl with stars in her eyes. Stupid girl, blinded by love, lust, diamonds, and fast cars.I couldn’t do it anymore.My hands shook as I swept my arm over the bathroom counter, sending my makeup and skincare products tumbling into one of the suitcases. I dumped drawer after drawer of my clothes into the other one.“Sera,” Olivia gasped from the doorway. “What are you doing?”“Leaving.” I blew a lock of hair away from my face as I crawled on all-fours across the room, trying to find my sneakers. Olivia set a coffee tray down on my dresser and started taking things out of the suitcases. I sat back on my heels and regretted it when my stilettos poked my rear end. “Hey, stop!”“You’re acting insane,” she snapped, and before I could intervene, she dumped the suitcase holding my clothes onto t
Tommaso“Are you ready for this?” Patrick asked me as the two of us approached the holding room.I smirked at him and replied, “I was born ready.” I didn’t know the Irishman that well, but I’d established that he could be trusted.He laughed and said, “I’ve always felt like mafia men could all be actors. We’ve got a lot of secrets we have to keep hidden behind faces of steel. Sometimes, it’s like being another person altogether.”I nodded in agreement. “Back in the day, I thought I might actually become an actor. I’d considered giving all of this up, going to Hollywood.”Patrick turned and looked at me, eyebrows raised. “Really? You ever been in a play or anything?”I answered without hesitation. “Best damn Mercutio George Washington High School ever saw.” For a moment, I thought of my death scene, how Mrs. Lambert had said she’d never seen someone die so eloquently. Well, I’d had even more practice dying since then. I could definitely pull off what we were about to do—no dying requir
KillianFrancesco saw his life flash before his eyes. When a man knew he was riding the edge between life and death, his eyes will move a certain way, images and random thoughts flickering over those final seconds as they tried to grasp all they were about to leave behind. They had only a split second to come to terms with it all before it was over, their sins, their unrequited desires, and their regrets.But some, like Francesco, stayed in their fear and did nothing but beg for mercy.“Killian,” he panted, eyes going wide. “Please.”I waited for Tommaso to leave before I sat down in the chair across from him. Everything I’d overheard through the door reeled through my mind. He’d given us far too much to even consider keeping him alive now, and he knew that.Anger and sadness melded together, creating an emotion I wasn’t too familiar with.Pity.“Who were you working for?” I asked, suddenly exhausted. I met his eyes, this man, this alleged friend who I’d known for years, even before I
SeraI sat in the main dining room for dinner. Killian hadn’t come, neither had Tommaso. Penelope wasn’t in the habit of coming down for dinner lately, either, so I ate alone, pushing bites of steak and salad around on my plate for a better part of an hour before I gave up and left the room.The house was always at its best during the sunset. Golden light illuminated the dark marble tiles in the foyer, casting gold rays across the black paint and dark wallpaper. Any other time, in any other weather, this place would have felt cold and dark, but now? I let a sunbeam drift over my bare arm, smiling at the warmth and amber golden hues it cast on my skin.Alone, and bored, I started toward my room. I felt absolutely exhausted, but my mind moved at a hundred miles per hour after the events of the day. Thoughts of the plane crash, Detective Briggs, and now Killian blocking me out again drifted in and out of my mind as I wandered aimlessly toward the third floor. My room felt just as empty a
SeraKillian stood in the middle of the hallway, stock-still, his eyes meeting mine instantly as if magnetized. I couldn’t discern if his broad stance looked menacing or lost, as he just lingered there.Joyce cleared her throat softly. I winced, already forgetting she was there. “I’ll just…go,” she whispered and left the way we had come.The Hand of Death looked defeated. And, unsurprisingly, there were blood splatters on his hands.I couldn’t blame him for being so drawn; the list of things that had happened to us both in the past few months, much less the past two days, was too extensive to just take a glance at.It almost made me want to forget that I was angry at him for his stubbornness and withheld truths. I was still annoyed that he wanted me to play the pretty, dressed-in-red wife until it suited his needs for me to do otherwise, but when he suddenly looked utterly stripped of his armor—not the metal type like the gun secured on his belt—I knew that while I couldn’t forgive hi
KillianSera’s kindness made me feel like a fraud. Her hand, unmarred by the blood of her enemies, rested on my leg with emotion shining in her eyes, blue like a midnight sky. I’d earned none of it.Evening dawned outside the windows. Dark would come sooner than we wanted.Francesco was dead, and I was going to repay his betrayal by dumping him in the Delaware River.Tommaso leaned on the doorframe, waiting for an answer, but my gaze had returned to Sera. I didn’t deserve her, but she was mine. She was mine, and Francesco had no right snarling that she was just some dollar sign too good to pass up.And I was hers. God help anyone who tried to harm her again.I shook my head and rose. Enough touchy-feely. There was work to be done.“The swamp,” I told Tommaso. He jerked a nod and turned to leave, but I added, harsher than I meant to, “I’m going. I need to see this through.”Sera jumped up and grabbed my sleeve. “I’m coming, too.”“No,” I bared instinctively, which earned me a look so v