KillianA few days later, Sera somehow convinced me to do mobster work in her favorite parlor while Caterina and her friends looked through wedding catalogues. It was difficult to focus on dividing territory with Andre’s records finally organized with all the giggling, but it made Sera happy, and I couldn’t refuse her. Tommaso happened to walk by when she asked me to help her choose linen colors—demanded, more like—and he threw his head back with laughter.“The Hand of Death being ordered around by a little girl. I never thought I’d see the day.”“Keep mocking me,” I growled without malice, “and you won’t see the rest of it.”“We have another training session tomorrow, don’t we?” Sera called to him.Tommaso sketched a bow. “I wouldn’t miss it for the world, my lady.”Currently, the women were all sitting on the floor with catalogues scattered between them. Penelope was gushing over the collection of wedding dresses as she bounced baby Michael on her leg. Caterina watched them as if te
SeraI knew I sounded absolutely insane when I accused Killian’s mother of killing animals and putting them in my room, but I said it anyway. “Do you think she would?”I appreciated him coming to my rescue more than once today, but now Killian looked perturbed, both by my accusation and the situation. “My mother has her ways of doing things. But where would she find a bird?”Killian peered toward the drawer where the dead robin was, bloody and mutilated like the mouse, its red and gray feathers plucked. He curled his lip before tucking me into a hug. “Don’t look. Let’s go in the hall.”I let him guide me out so Tommaso could go in and take care of the poor thing. I caught his expression. He was as thoroughly confused and freaked out just as much as Killian and I were. How could this happen twice? What psycho was doing this, and how were they getting in?It was a person. No animal could do something like this.Killian held my face gently between his hands. “Are you okay? What happened?
Killian“How’s the Roxy situation?” Tommaso asked twenty minutes into the drive, voice raised over the racing rain of the odd February thunderstorm.I put my thoughts of Sera on the back burner to focus on the job. While this was just a cut-and-dried mission, it still required undivided attention. “Caterina and Rosemary are still monitoring her. They took her to a doctor’s appointment yesterday. I think they determined the gender.”“But she confessed to having no contact with Greco, right?” Patrick piped in. “How’s she keeping herself busy all by herself, especially without a phone?”“She doesn’t have many hobbies except sleeping and doing puzzles, apparently. Caterina’s bought her at least ten, and she’s finished eight of them so far.”“I commend that woman,” Patrick tsked about Caterina. “It’s a little sad that Sera doesn’t know. Olivia and Penny know about it but Sera doesn’t? It doesn’t really feel right.”“Oh, yeah,” Tommaso said with amusement as we turned onto the highway, “are
SeraWatching Killian drive away to do mafia business was one of the worst feelings I could experience. My gut was tight with worry. My heart skipped beats thinking of all the things that could go wrong. My head pounded with a headache. I imagined him coming home, some part of him gravely hurt, or worse—Killian not coming home at all.At least I had plenty of people to occupy my mind and lift my spirits. As usual, the household-wide dinner was excellent and filled with chatter.Mom bounced baby Michael on her knee. He kept reaching for bites of her turkey and mashed potatoes, which was so cute. Penny looked on, beaming at the love her son was receiving. Olivia and Joyce were having a debate about who the best character from Golden Girls was. Dustin and Callie were now the best of friends and were on the verge of dating. It was sweet to watch them sitting there, whispering to one another and smiling.I sat next to the empty head of the table, perfectly content to just watch and listen.
KillianIt was Niccolò’s cabin all over again.Just when I thought things could go smoothly, just when I was confident enough that my loved ones were safe, it all went to shit.“What kind of fucking karma is this?” I’d snarled to myself as I’d bolted out of the warehouse and into the rain that picked up into a downpour for the car. I’d shouted to a few of my friends as I hurried to the car. “Tommaso, let’s go! Adrian, lock the house down! Patrick, oversee this deal!”“Ricci!” Harry Bower had called from across the parking lot. “Sorry if I said something wrong! I’ll be in touch.”I had already been enraged. Annoyance at the bastard’s glib remark had stoked my inner fire to a raging inferno. I’d waved him off as I’d jumped into the driver’s seat, Tommaso and Adrian a second behind. We were drenched from the rain, and it made me wonder if the thunderstorm was still rolling over the house.I’d rammed the SUV in drive and put the pedal to the metal, peeling out of the lot and heading towar
SeraRaw, unyielding terror paralyzed me.The day I’d been kidnapped from the school, a bag yanked over my head as I was thrown into a van and driven to the Marino mansion to be sold, had been the start of a journey through hell. There had been several men in that van. I knew I would never recognize all of their voices, but one of them had seemed so familiar.It wasn’t until the second I heard that voice in the dark again that I knew exactly whose it was.That night, he’d said, “Yeah, that’s a Bianchi, alright. I could spot one from a mile away.”My father’s faithful righthand, Mattia Greco.And now he was in my house, in my bed, his fingers slipping my nightgown’s strap down my shoulder.I forgot how to breathe as I stared at him, frozen, even as his brown eyes, black as a void in the dark room lightened only by the moonlight outside, took me in hungrily. “I came to offer my condolences,” he said, his voice raspy as if he hadn’t spoken in a while. “For your father. It was a true tra
SeraKillian took a threatening step forward. “Get your fucking hands off her!” he snarled.“That’s not very good negotiating,” Mattia purred, sliding the knife along my throat. I gasped as I felt the skin break. A bead of blood dripped down. Killian flinched with fear and rage, his calm facade cracking. “I’ve been wanting to touch her for a while. Now’s finally my chance. You wouldn’t mind if I just tested her a little? You’re just like the rest of us men, right? Women are just things for the taking.”Killian was speechless with rage. But he didn’t shoot. He knew as well as everyone that Mattia could cut me faster than a bullet could enter his brain. “What do you want?” my king demanded.Mattia clicked his tongue, pressing his cheek to mine, his finger sliding along the strap of my underwear. He released it, snapping it painfully, and then slid his hand up my stomach closer to my breasts. I jerked. The knife nicked me just a centimeter next to the first cut.Mattia didn’t even wince,
KillianI carried Sera all the way to the kitchen after wrapping her in a comforter from the nearest guest room. Caterina, Olivia, and Joyce rushed in like ER nurses to clean and bandage her up. I wanted to call Dr. Enstrom, but Sera insisted it wasn’t necessary.The tension in the room was palpable, sour and negative, and the moment I set Sera down at the table. Caterina tried to push me away, but Sera caught my arm with her uninjured one and whimpered, “Don’t leave me.”“Never,” I told her fiercely, refusing to leave her side as the women patched her up. Her throat and right cheek had thin lines that would disappear without scarring in time. The cut in her upper right arm, however, was deeper and needed stitches. It would heal as well but take longer to disappear.My heart refused to return to a normal pace. I was shaken up, though I would never admit it, but I would make my anger known. Sera and Tommaso somehow collaborated to make a move. My best friend distracted me from the issu