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
Layla“He doesn’t love you.” Aldo’s words echoed in a flat, toneless bark through the empty hall. Stopping me in my tracks. Shocking me so much I couldn’t even think of a response before he added, “You shouldn’t waste eight years on a man like him, even if he is Eli’s father.”I almost laughed. Almo
I changed the course of my trajectory, diverting from the spare bedroom to the back of the house. I slipped through the back door and across the sprawling yard towards the building at the edge of the property.I’d take my anger out at the gun range.The familiar scents of the expansive arena immedia
AldoMy fingers tightened on the gun lowered at my side. I knew she spoke the truth—there was still a reckoning to be had, consequences for my actions. Debts that would certainly be paid in blood.“I bet,” Aurora continued, probably noticing the tension in my jaw, “they’ll be coming to talk to you s
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
Layla“Just talk to him,” I insisted, giving Vanessa’s hand another little tug towards the door of Ethan’s clinic room. It’d been three days since the attack, and he was just about recovered at this point. “You’ll see he’s not a bad guy.”After I’d all but written Ethan out of my life, I couldn’t fo
So, I wondered, which of those secrets had made him Rossetti’s target?And how has Rossetti learned them?I turned in my seat to regard Ethan. He met my gaze like he knew I was about to ask something of dire importance and seriousness. “How did he know?”Ethan’s dark eyes blinked against the pain.“
AldoThe call came late at night, shattering the fragile quiet that had settled over the Marcello estate. My phone buzzed on the nightstand, jarring me from a restless sleep. Instantly awake, I reached for the warbling device. Pressed it to my ear. “Marcello.”“There’s been an attack,” came the low
Vanessa’s fingers squeezed mine again, but she said nothing. Didn’t argue, didn’t agree. Was she, too, thinking of the night I’d saved her? How I’d reacted with such seamless movement, no hesitation, no doubt?I’d taken out a man nearly twice my size without so much as breaking a sweat.“I’ve had de