KillianI followed Tommaso through the warehouse and into what was once an office area. In the chaos, the filing cabinets had been toppled over, some of them now open and spilling paperwork over the debris covered floor. Other cabinets had been pried open after the fact.“What am I looking at?” I asked as I looked down at a stack of paperwork Tommaso just handed to me. “What is this?”The pages were littered with what I believed to be names, but several sections were blacked-out or encrypted with symbols and numbers instead of letters. Tommaso picked up a paper off the floor and looked at it before saying, “Names, I think. And how much these people were bought or traded for. I think the encrypted sections are prices, and the blacked-out sections are deals. I’m not totally sure.”“Niccolò was running an entire enterprise right under not only my nose, but Riccardo’s? That doesn’t sound right.” I grazed over another sheet of paper, looking for one name in particular.I hadn’t forgotten a
SeraKillian’s arms held me tight as he clutched me to his chest. I felt irrevocably broken, but his touch slowly began to pull the pieces of my heart back together. I kept my eyes squeezed shut. I couldn’t look at Mikey. I’d just see Penelope’s face the moment she was told her husband wasn’t ever coming home again.It wasn’t fair. Penelope was a good person. She loved him fiercely. His love for her had been the kind one only sees in the movies or in a romance novel. But that hadn’t been enough to keep him alive.“I could have stopped this.” My voice trembled. “If I hadn’t screamed, he wouldn’t have lost his focus. He’d still be alive.”“Sera, it’s not your fault.” Killian’s grip shifted as the doctor kneeled beside us, stitching up his forehead. I kept my head in his shoulder, still inconsolable.“I could have done something. I could have shot someone. I don’t know how to use a gun, Killian. I’m useless. I’ve never felt more useless.” My sorrow had me babbling now. He didn’t acknowle
Killian“We’re about an hour away, Boss,” Adrian said from the front seat.The SUV was a basic model, something I equipped most of my lower soldiers with when they joined my ranks. There was no partition to award Sera and me any privacy, but that didn’t particularly matter right now. My mission was to keep Sera from falling to pieces.To my surprise, Adrian’s presence seemed to have already been doing the trick. Adrian had the same likeable, innocent qualities about him Mikey had, which made someone like Sera instantly like him. She’d had questions dancing behind her eyes when she’d met him, but now it seemed they were getting along just fine. Maybe he had even distracted her from the night’s events.I’d rather her mind be off Mikey’s death and Francesco’s betrayal. The thought that she would likely be gone right now if she’d gotten into that car with my alleged associate sent a chill down my spine. Once again, she would’ve found herself in a fucked up situation, kidnapped and sold, a
Sera“Where’s my husband?” Penelope said, her voice shaking. She looked between me and Killian with a pleading expression that shattered my heart. Killian looked like a menace in his bloodied, torn clothing. It had to make Penelope think the worst. “I shouldn’t have come. I’m sorry, Mr. Ricci. I just felt like something was wrong. Mikey usually checks in. He called while I was sleeping earlier to tell me that he had to go out. But now, you’re back. If you’re home, then he should be too.” She worried her bottom lip between her teeth, and bent at the waist, her hands on her swollen belly.“Penelope?” I stepped forward, my fingertips prickling with adrenaline as I looked her over. “Penelope, what’s wrong?”She gasped, her eyes squeezed shut before she blew out her breath and steadied herself against the wall.“Oh, my God,” I whispered to myself. “Pen, are you having contractions?”“I’m just stressed,” she whimpered. She met Killian’s gaze, tears welling in her eyes. “Where is he? Please?
Sera“I need boiling water, antiseptic, towels,” I said hurriedly as I followed Killian down a hallway as he carried Penelope like she weighed nothing. Two maids I’d never even seen before walked on either side of me, listening intently. “Anything you can get your hands on, okay? Heating pads, uhm, anything you can think to keep her comfortable. Ice chips? A comb!” Isn’t that what they always got laboring women in the movies? I stared at the older of the two maids with pleading eyes. Help me, I have no idea what I’m doing. I prayed she’d understand.The maids broke off and disappeared into the recesses of the house to grab the items I’d requested. Penelope whimpered and hissed in Killian’s arms. She was in so much pain. I could almost taste it in the air. I thought this night couldn’t get any worse than it already was, but I’d been wrong.I’d rather be elbow-deep in Tommaso’s bleeding chest again than risk losing Penelope and her baby.Killian laid Penelope down in a large bed in one
SeraOlivia gripped Penelope’s hand and whispered assurances into her ear. I stood at the foot of the bed, trying not to shake. Joyce stood on one side of me, and Fiona on the other, the two of them holding Penelope’s legs as her son came into the world.The scene felt like something out of a movie, except I wasn’t cozy on a couch eating popcorn and delighting in the drama. I had Penelope’s life in my hands—and the life of her son.I’d never experienced anything like this, but I was doing it. Time stood still and the room blurred as I coached Penelope through contraction after contraction.“You’re doing it, Pen,” I said, my voice cracking. I reached down, feeling the baby’s head in my hands. I could see the crown and knew it wouldn’t be much longer before she had him out. With every push, he became a bit more visible.Without letting go of Penelope’s leg, Joyce leaned down to have a look as well. She sighed in relief and said, “That’s the right presentation. She’s doing fine. You’re
KillianI felt like I hadn’t taken a breath in over an hour. Watching the paramedics leave was like a shock to my entire system, like I’d been dunked in frigid water and fought my way to the surface. That first breath brought me back to reality, and at the moment, reality sucked.During the twenty minutes it had taken for Penelope to have her baby, nothing had gone right. I’d paced in front of the door the entire time, my phone pressed to my ear as I called Tommaso, Alonzo, and whichever capos had feet on the ground at not only the warehouse but the safehouses.No one had seen Francesco or Bixby until the moment I heard that baby cry for the first time. At that moment, I got the news I’d been waiting for.Tommaso had called and told me Francesco was on the lam, which I expected. What I hadn’t expected to hear was that Bixby’s car had been found twenty miles north of Philly, its tires shredded and Bixby hanging halfway out the open driver’s door with several bullets in his chest.He di
SeraMy fingers fanned over Killian’s bare chest. His frame shielded me from the spray of the water as he towered over me, his eyes closed as he pressed his forehead to mine.Bruises peppered his skin all the way down to his hips. I winced at the sight of his injuries, my chest convulsing painfully as I closed my eyes against the fury that someone had hurt him.“Sera,” he whispered into my hair. He dragged his hands down over the swell of my hips. “I’m fine.”“I don’t want to hurt you.”“You could never hurt me.”He lifted his head, and I tilted my head back to look at his face. His eyes were dark, hooded with fatigue, but his hands rested on my hips and squeezed as he pressed his body against mine.Every time we’d come together like this it had been hungry, desperate, hard and fast. I wrapped my arms around his neck and kissed him gently, tasting him, my fingers tracing the angles of his face, of his jaw and neck. I took my time touching him as if memorizing him, burning him into my