LaylaSilence fell in the wake of the shot. The car careened around another turn. The warm hand on my back lifted, allowing me to straighten.My pulse slammed against my eardrums as I raised my head.“Eli!” I lurched forward, but Nonna and Eli both sat, unharmed, in the front passenger seat. Both of
I knelt so my gaze fell even with Eli’s. “We’re only going to be here a few days, okay?”“I know.”“Do you need me to stay with you tonight?”He shook his head, eyes wide and somber. “I can be brave. I’m not afraid to sleep alone.”I wouldn’t let myself think how much like his father he was.Instead
LaylaI sprang away like I’d been burned. Nearly tripping over my own feet in my haste to extract myself from the warm, bare skin of the man I’d once loved.“Vas—Aldo!” What was he doing in my bathroom? How had he even gotten here? Was this some kind of attempt at reconciliation? “How dare you—”“La
He was cutting a damned bullet out of his shoulder. With the calm of an ER surgeon. Like he’d done it countless times before.“After the attack at the hospital,” he said, and I was so caught up in watching him work, it took me a moment to realize he was answering the question I’d asked, “I sent men
AldoI couldn’t look away from her long, graceful fingers on the needle. My blood stained their tips red, but she didn’t pause. Didn’t flinch away. Didn’t so much as ask for gloves.She wasn’t wearing a wedding ring.My Layla. The words made their way into my mind without my beckoning. Because it wa
If Carlo noticed my hesitation, he didn’t comment. Merely bowed his head again. “I’ll find out everything there is to know.”***I didn’t sleep that night.I tossed and turned in an unfamiliar room, on an unfamiliar mattress, beneath unfamiliar sheets—but those minor inconveniences were hardly what
Layla“I need to ask you a favor.” I hated the words even before they’d left my mouth. Hated thinking them. Hated that I’d cornered Marco in the break room of the hospital to ask this of him.Marco was a nice guy; everybody knew it. He was one of the most well-liked doctors at the hospital, and here
“How … lovely!” Surprise bloomed inside my chest as I accepted the gift, but I played it off with a laugh. “Really selling it here, eh?”He lifted a shoulder in a shrug. “They suited you.”“Pink carnations?” I shook my head. He was really going all out for this role, I’d give him that. Anybody looki
AldoThe Marcello estate hadn’t seen a night like this in far too long. Since Layla and I had wed on this same lawn—nearly a year ago now. How had it been so long? How had time passed so quickly?And more importantly: How had we been married for so many months, yet shared so few moments like this on
I was late to Eli Marcello’s party. But I was also on the hunt, and as a cop, one of those things definitely took precedent. Eli’s party would go on for another several hours. And he’d be ten for an entire year after that.But I’d found a clue, and I’d be damned if I wasn’t going to follow it.I was
One week since I’d given the order.One week since I’d unleashed the Marcello family on the streets of New York with orders to take no prisoners.One week since I’d declared war on the Rossetti family.I sat at the head of the long table, trying to force myself to eat.The rest of the table’s occupa
The estate bustled with movement: Marcello men arming themselves, strategizing, talking shit, waving proverbial fists at the enemy, posturing, preparing for war … All the things men did. But still, they awaited my command.I stood at the head of the table in the grand dining room, where a makeshift
Fear.Shit.“Where is he?” I demanded.Carlo jerked his head toward a nearby room. “The doctors are with him now. It was bad, Layla. The explosion took out half the building. We were lucky to get him out alive.”I nudged past him and into the room.Aldo lay on the hospital bed, his face pale, a deep
LaylaAldo had missed another dinner.Or, rather, he was in the process of missing it. I sat at the head of the long dining table, where he’d normally sit; for some reason it felt wrong to leave it vacant. Beside me, Eli pushed food around his plate with his fork, and on his other side, Vanessa lean
EthanI, once again, found myself at the precinct long after the rest of my desk-mates and cohorts had vacated for the night. I mean, the police precinct was never truly empty—it was New York City, so the place was always hopping—but the difference between day shift and night shift was, well. Night
EthanI got to the coffee shop far earlier than was necessary—close to an hour before Vanessa and I had decided to meet—and proceeded to sulk in the corner like a loser, downing coffee.I’d long since stopped smelling the fresh-baked goods layered behind the glass counter, and I was far too nervous
“But I’m funny and charming,” Ethan said, with a smile that was indeed quite charming. “It’s okay. I don’t blame you for not being able to resist.”I groaned, trying very hard not to smile myself. “This is the worst flirting I’ve ever seen.”“It’s not flirting!” Ethan protested, lifting his hands in