Just A Placeholder: Dying For His Mistress

nolias, watching the man I loved hand his

ess Underboss, didn't just

years, I wasn't his lov

forced me to wear wasn't

ralyzed on the floor. "It drains the wearer's luc

om the inside out, my n

thbed, unable to move or spe

ause his too

st, begging the universe to keep me alive so

my sheets. "Don't leave m

o make a wish-not for h

my eyes

ur later, Dant

his f

ed," he said. "Her

the

one, the poison had

pte

na

or the man who once promised me protection, only to watch him h

hipped my hair across my face, sti

oul

s, not from the biting cold, but from the slow, ag

two years for

he Ruthless Underboss of the Chicago Outfit,

told me

me I was h

lt, the deafening roar of the engines dr

ed sedan, the only tr

gravel crunc

tore onto the strip, cutting off my

flew

anned out, creating a perimeter that pus

e stepp

a Mo

er of the

oat that cost more tha

t look at

ooked

a smile that was shar

voice slicing through the wind. "Like a g

magnolias until the stems

e to be," I said, my

, a hollow, t

too. It doesn't mean he l

t door

airs l

appe

ulders broader, his suit cut to perfecti

ned the

ss night, swept over the SUVs, the a

ath hi

d, the flowers heavy

dn't

idn'

I were a ghost haunting a p

stairs, his stride

d forward t

und his neck, burying

n't push

back, a possessive, familiar gestur

efcase to one of

tting int

ugh the wind stole the na

e ducking into

at me one

a look o

look of d

got

t with a finality th

standing alone on the empty runway with a bouquet of wiltin