THE DEVIL'S ROSE "CLAIMED BY THE MAFIA LORD:

bleeding over the polished marble floor and spillin

adn't

re

ght fly open again. Her muscles ached. Her eyes burned. But her body refused to shut down. Every time s

-soft,

flin

dn't open.

orita Rivera. You may walk the

teps

dn't r

idn't

g stirred inside her-cur

eamed. Every painting hung just so. It was a palace-but a cold one. The

ues. None spoke. None looked at her longer than they had to. Elena's ba

ich tobacco.

ollow

the wes

r carved marble angels-faces frozen mid-prayer. The scent of citrus trees h

here

t, cigarette between his fingers like it belonged there. His hair was tousle

turn whe

a Riv

caught in

ew he

tantly guarded. "How

u?" Not "Where am I?" Just that-because fear had turned her

ooked at her. His eyes weren't cruel. But they weren't kind either. They were...

ets. My buildings. Even the rats know bette

allowe

igarette into the grass,

oth, accented but sharp. "You ran

dn't

a hand, si

kno

ad no idea what was happening, that she was just a nurse, that her best friend had been slaugh

her again, lo

in. "Carried out by a freelance enforcer named El Toro, who was hired by so

pped c

ie off loose en

wobbled be

do you kno

o owe me favors. I knew who you were b

aky breath, h

ask to b

eplied, "b

They won't stop. You know that, don't you? The second you step out o

night. Like the moment she knelt

he said quietly. "I didn't

ace. That's

fell bet

es, but even they sounded like whi

back to

n," he said, tone shifting

d. "What ki

ng... degrading, if that

idn't

"No contact with the outside world. No walking out that gate unles

ome your

ecome

ooked

hard to

n seconds, and now she was standing in some mafia king's garden

about it," she

udied

isn't your friend, Elena. Neither is hope. You've alr

eath h

ed in her mind-laugh

n g

u?" she ask

smile, but it did

an Se

ded heavy in

, in the rumors about who really ran the docks, the clubs, the shad

he kne

he whispered again, more

t qui

rifting behind-warm, woodsy, and oddly

he left, heart beating ag

ad taken

l had offere