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I’m halfway to Kruger’s office when the elevator doors down the hall open, and a man steps out. The coat he’s wearing is unbuttoned, revealing a white shirt covered in blood stains. Kai Mazur. The last in our trio of operatives.
As he walks down the corridor, blood drips onto the floor from the brown paper bag in Kai’s right hand, leaving red splotches on the concrete. Looks like the captain wanted a souvenir again, and judging from the size of the bag, it’s probably someone’s hand. When Kai reaches the office door, he drops the bag, and it makes a disgusting grotesque sound as it hits the floor. It might not be a hand after all.
Kai nods at me as we pass each other, and I notice a badly stitched cut on his chin that still oozes blood. He probably sewed himself up again. Since he killed his handler, medical personnel refuse to treat him unless he’s sedated.
Don’t just accept the hand you’ve been dealt in life. Sometimes, you need to be the dealer.
As I follow him out of the room, I wonder what the woman I’m going to kill looks like in person.
When I saw Ravenna Pisano descending the stairs, however, I barely managed to keep my jaw from hitting the floor. I’ve seen several pictures of her, but they didn’t do her justice. There are beautiful women. And then . . . there’s her.
“Let’s count,” his deep voice says. “What?” “Odd numbers only. Backward. Start at seventy-one.”
How is it possible to want to kill a person, and feel the urge to protect them at the same time?
As I watch, Ravenna Pisano, the wife of a Cosa Nostra capo, picks up the cleaning items and starts washing her mother’s windows. I stare at her, stunned, for almost an hour while she finishes the glass, then wipes all the kitchen counters and cabinets, and, finally, mops the floor.
yeqh bitch
Please consider telling Don Ajello somehow, or let me do it. Please.
DO IT BRUH HE WILL BELIEVE YOU ESPECIALLY WITH THAT WIFE OF HIS
The sick bastard controls what his wife eats.
put some pieces together babe
“How is she?”
“Whacky.”
LMAO PLS
A few minutes later, I hear him approach again. Or maybe I just feel him. I’m still focused on the sky when something soft and fluffy lands on my back. I look down, staring at the edges of the blanket Alessandro placed around my shoulders, while the last rays of the setting sun sink behind the bare branches of the trees.
yeah gonna kill her my ass 💀
An instant later, she bursts out laughing. It’s like magic. Unrestrained, high-pitched laughter that reminds me of chirping birds. I should be watching the road, but I can’t take my eyes off her. I’m so captivated by the sight that I ease my foot off the gas pedal so we don’t crash and stare at her.
“Has your husband been hurting you?” Alessandro’s deep voice comes from above my head.
PAUSE. CLOCK IT.
“Next time we go on one of your shopping sprees,” I say, glaring at her, “you’re buying a proper coat, or I’ll buy one for you. Understand?” The corners of her eyes twitch, and a small smile pulls at her lips. “Congratulations.” I furrow my brows. “For what?” “That was a beautiful, complex sentence. You’re doing great.” Her smile widens. Is she teasing me? I narrow my eyes at her, expecting her to stop smiling under my mean glare. “Are you trying an intimidation technique on me, Alessandro?” “Yes,” I bark.
Stunned and unable to move, I watch as the flames consume the building, and its ruined frame gets swallowed up by the raging inferno and the billow of smoke.
El oh el
Yeah. Such a shame.
He’s essentially gone off the deep end, been driving around town for weeks now, searching for his missing sister. I need you to fill in.”
welp....
“No,” I say, just like I do every morning when he calls me to debrief. “Nothing out of the ordinary.”
loyalty 🙏🙏🙏🙏
Drago Popov—the head of the Serbian outfit—approaches, and the expression on his face tells me he’s not happy to see Rocco.
snow-covered
bro i think i will have trauma from the snow now too...
A smile threatens to pull at my lips, and I’m narrowly able to hide it. Rocco Pisano, the man who proclaims to have the biggest balls in the world, is scared shitless.
In the weeks I’ve been with Pisanos, I haven’t seen Rocco hurt his wife, but something still doesn’t add up. I can’t get that haunted look in Ravenna’s eyes out of my head.
I shift my aim lower until I’m zeroed in on the middle of his right hand. The hand that’s responsible for the bruises on Ravenna’s neck. And I squeeze the trigger.
I move my eyes from Nino to the shadow looming at his back. There are no words that could describe the look in Alessandro’s eyes as they pierce mine. Bottomless, dark-blue depths regard me with unblinking determination. So full of rage and spite, but also satisfaction. He tilts his head to the side and moves his gaze to my neck where the bruises are hidden under several layers of concealer. Then, back up until our eyes meet again. And I know. The sniper didn’t miss.
“If your husband still has his hand when he comes home,” he says in a deep, controlled voice, and a shudder ripples down my spine, “I’ll correct it immediately.”
“This is why,” he grits out through his teeth and, grabbing the back of my neck, slams his mouth to mine.
I should have killed her the minute I set foot in this house. I haven’t. And now, I’m no longer capable of doing it.
“I don’t understand how a woman could fuck me up so badly, Ravenna.” His palm slides over my mound and presses onto my pussy, making me gasp. I want to turn around so much, but his embrace is too vigorous. “Years of planning. Ruined.”
“From the moment I set my eyes on you, you invaded my fucking mind like a plague, Ravenna,”
“Scrambling my brains so I can’t even think straight anymore.”
“This wasn’t supposed to happen,”
“I know,” I say and press my mouth to his.
You were my payback, he said. Is that all I’ve been to him? Payback for something my husband has done? Were those kisses and caresses all just a lie? Yes, they probably were.
😕
A sad laugh escapes me. I must be the biggest idiot who’s ever lived because I thought he had feelings for me, too. I guess it’s true what they say, there’s nothing more blind or stupid than a woman in love.
In my pitiful need to be loved, I let myself see the things that weren’t ever there. He just wanted to bang his boss’s wife as payback.
oh baby....that's not all
Ravi,”
“My descent began the moment I set my eyes on you.” Another stroke over my pussy, and then he lifts me off the ground and carries me across the room. “And with each look, with every delicate touch, I fell further into the abyss.”
Ravi,”
Ravi.”
“Have I told you that you are the most beautiful woman gracing this earth?”
“Anything you need, Ravi.”
This is a goodbye.
“Let’s run away,” I whisper, my voice shaking, “We’ll head straight to your car and be gone, leaving everything behind.”
Please, choose me, I plead in my head.
“I can’t.”
“Can I ask you to do something for me?”
“Anything. You know that.” Yes. Anything, except to choose me.
