The Mafia King's Ruthless Claim

na'

warm. That was

corner. And the man who had just walked me up from a crime scene poured tw

ront of me. I d

knelt on the cellar floor. I could smell it on

them shake, and the cufflink in my pocket press

elves and the coffee ring on the left side of the desk that never came out. I had never sat

down and studied

back, a shadow of stubble along a hard jaw, a small white scar through his left eyebrow. His e

you touch?

thi

uched h

e had been watching.

alive," I said. "An

the glass slowly

tell the whole kitchen, and by morning half the city would know. You knelt down and

The clock ticked

faint and cheerful, and a man's laugh rising over the others. Loud and brig

kill him?

e I could stop them. My

angry. He looke

ally think you'd be sitting in

t drink

't a smile. It was the place a smile m

aid. "That's all you need

all the

. Someone will notice he's missing. Someone will ask questions. And when they do, they'll start looking for any

tight. "I didn'

kno

y does i

lbows on the desk, a

care what you saw. A witness is a loose thread, Fiona, and p

tilt. I gripped the

t the spelling test he had on Friday and the dinosaur socks he refused to throw away even

. My voice cracked. I

w that

d. Men like him

savings. If something happens to me, he goes into the

A log shifted in the fireplace and

ng to happen to

't promi

ust

man making a promise to himself, and the strangest thing was

reen, and something moved behind his eyes, quick a

head leaned in. Dean, one of the bodyguards who stood by

rother is ask

him I'

it's im

id, very calmly, "t

osed th

I noticed for the first time that they were scraped raw. Fresh. A small cu

t that meant. I di

eave the city tonight. New name, new place, a

owed in front of me like a

ca Moretti knew where I went. It meant the men he was afraid of could find me through him. It meant running

" I

he'd expected that. L

y one other way t

repeated.

t on the desk between us. His hand rested on it for a moment, flat

ed. "I scrub your floors. You

ty four. You take the number nine

leave the last piece of bread in the kit

being invisible, and he had

I whi

person in this house toni

er across the de

eal pressed into the top corner. A marriage license. His name

r the bride

and he held my gaz

er husband," Luca said quietly. "You have el