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My stomach fluttered. This was more than I’d gotten from anyone else. “What do you mean?”
“I’m so sorry. I can’t talk about it.”
“But you haven’t told me anything.”
He waved me off. “I’d like to help, but I can’t.”
“This happened in your backyard. Don’t you care?”
“’Course I do, but that’s not the point.”
I flicked to a photo of Elise and Jack, shoving my phone under his face. “Her three-year-old boy doesn’t have his mama anymore.”
He grimaced. “She had a kid?”
“His name is Jack. He lost his mama six months ago, and I’m all he’s got. I can’t let this go. Do you understand that?”
He blanched. “Yes, but?—”
“Doesn’t my sister deserve justice?”
He shook his head, groaning. “Ah, fuck. Alright, I’ll tell you what I know, but this didn’t come from me.”
“I won’t breathe a word.”
He sighed, his eyes darting around. “She was seen with a couple of guys here, but there was this one—Italian, I think. Tall, dark…But, hey, don’t read too much into it.”
“When was this?”
He squinted. “It’s been a while. Three, four years?”
“What’s his name?”
He flinched and bit his lip.
I leaned forward. “Is it Achille Costa?”
The bartender froze. “You’ll get yourself killed if you keep asking questions about them.”
Yet another person had confirmed Achille’s involvement with Elise. They used to be an item. Then my sister got pregnant, disappeared from his life, and then…?
“When did you last see her?” I asked.
He grabbed a rag and began wiping a nonexistent stain on the counter. “Sorry, I don’t remember.”
I picked up a napkin and fished a pen from my purse, scrawling my contact information. I slid it toward him.
“Thanks. If anything comes to mind?—”
“I’ll let you know,” he said, but he clearly wanted me gone.
I hopped off the stool and left the bar. The cold air hit me, and I pulled my jacket closer around me. Everything inside me screamed to drop this, but I couldn’t stop—not when answers shimmered through the darkness.
I shattered into a million pieces on the day the police called me to identify my sister’s body. Standing in the morgue, I whispered promises to her. I’ll take care of your boy. I’ll make you proud. They spilled from my lips until rage cut through my sorrow. I’ll get him, Elise. I’ll hunt him down, and I’ll end him.
Since she’d died, I’d pieced together my sister’s routine but her final days were still a mystery. Years ago, she’d been involved with a dangerous man. That didn’t surprise me. Elise always had a thing for bad boys. Men with dark secrets who prowled in shadowy corners. Her songs were full of heartbreak.
Achille Costa certainly fit that description. Even though he’d been a perfect gentleman, there’d been a hint of arrogance in our interaction. His smile. The bedroom stare reaching into my soul. Or maybe his general fuckboy vibe. Too confident, smirky, and beautiful.
