Vows of sin

lina

ver believe

l she be

ives, her file closed in every intelligence and mafia network from Italy to Dubai. But she hadn't died in that fire.

es. Time hadn't touched the walls here, nor the velvet drapes that sagged from the ceilin

shirt shook in his bindings. His lips t

"I was just delivering a message. That's al

h a silver blade-one small enough to pass

ed it off...

quickly. "That it had to reach someone name

alina murmured. "Becau

ver worn marble tiles. Slowly, she circled

w she died?" sh

ed. "Throa

lina said. "Clean. Prof

her breath kissed his ear. "Which means so

d. "I don'

he whispered. "Befor

tly with someone in her inner circle. A woma

ina s

name

ia Ro

r maybe, the daughter of

fingers grazed the edge of a photo

you," she s

sagged i

t won't

m flaring in his e

ay and snappe

m the corners of the ro

," she ordered. "And d

ina, p

ithout turning around. "Even if y

hen silence followed. She lit a cigarette with

startin

cy

bl

ld hu

ulling strings, rebuilding what Dante Moretti had tried to

always the shar

nt

he used to

uthless, impossibly handsome, with a smile that could cut glass. She had been working in inte

r like a man t

en she thought he

ld he

his fathe

ce her b

ould ever come befo

ght. She still remembered how cold it had been-how

had wa

alked

o-the daughter of the man who had is

didn't e

urviving copy of the one thing that could burn

father ordering the slaughter of a diplomat's family in Par

reat

, waiting, watching. She hadn't used

sia Romano ha

desperate enough to reach out to a dead woman for help. A girl w

a thick envelope, marking i

d the seal wit

whispered. "Then let me show you th

one instruction: Deliver it directly to Al

ate suite above the speakeasy

in years, she allow

ght be the beginni

world witho

f a drink, raised

fr

he window.

ut a figure stepped from the

eam, a gloved hand c

ead," the intruder

rld spun, darkness surged, and Catalina collapsed a

nt for Alessia Romano was intercepted by an unknown