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“Get in the car outside,” I order her. “You’re under my protection now.”
* * *
As I step into the cavernous space of the old mill, Angelo Garibaldi stands before me, his presence dominating the shadows.
The survivor of the attack on Jess hovers beside him, looking haunted. Angelo’s eyes, void of warmth, fixate on me with calculated precision.
“Glad you could come,” he begins, his voice laced with an undercurrent of annoyance. “Eddie here was quite enlightening. You’ve killed two of my men.”
I draw my gun and execute Eddie with a single shot between his eyes.
“Three,” I reply calmly, holstering my gun. A cold sense of justice fills me. They crossed a line with her; their fate was sealed by their actions, not by my hand.
Angelo, visibly taken aback by my audacity, fights for words. “Have you lost your damned mind? Executing one of my men right in front of me. What of the truce? Are you asking to be killed?”
“They targeted someone under my protection. I will compensate double the amount they were due to collect. That should settle this.”
His laugh, bitter and hollow, reverberates through the mill. “Generous,” he mocks. “But killing my men over some nobody? Why should a little cash this square things between us? They were worth far more to me alive than double that debt.”
“They violated a boundary they shouldn’t have,” I counter sharply. “Or is it common practice for your collectors to rape as they please?”
“You echo your father,” Angelo muses, attempting to steer the conversation. “He used honor as a way to maintain profit. Until he met your mother.”
I sidestep the bait, my focus unwavering. “Two hundred thousand by the end of the day and we both go back to work.”
Angelo dismisses the offer with a wave, his smile thinning. “Forget the cash. They overstepped, I acknowledge that.” His casual dismissal irks me; I sense the undercurrents of a deeper game at play. “Eddie mentioned the woman.”
“She is no one of consequence,” I lie, feeling the edge of a trap.
His laughter is cynical, mocking. “Fallen for her, have you? But we both know your heart beats for gold not love. When was the last time you gave a shit about anyone but your banker?”
My expression remains stone. “Sentiment is a liability,” I say, the bitter taste of truth in my words. “She means nothing to me.”
“Your father preached as much about his wife, yet he died because he cheated on her with a hooker. Passion over principle.”
Angelo crosses himself, a mocking gesture of reverence. “Died fighting her pimp. He thought he could control everything but one little bit of chaos walked in, killed him and your mother..”
He points at the corpse. “You tread the same path, Alessandro. Needing to control everything and everyone, even when it spells your ruin.”
“The only thing that matters is that the money keeps rolling in. Remember, I bought her debt. She’s mine now. Under my protection.”
As I turn to leave, his parting words chase me. “Not all debts are paid in cash, Alessandro.”
THREE
Jess
“Describe it to me,” Emma says to me down the phone. “While I sit here eating cold pizza I should have thrown out three days ago.”
I sit up, looking around the hotel room. “Bed big enough for a football team. Minibar that could get that entire football team drunk. I can see Central Park. Upper East Side sure has its advantages over Brooklyn. I do not belong here, let’s put it that way.”
I sink back against the pillows, acutely aware of how far I sink into the mattress. It’s not just the opulence that makes me feel out of place; it’s my curves on a bed like this.
“And he’s paying for the lot?” Emma asks.
“I hope so because I can’t afford one square of toilet paper in a place like this.”
“You sure he isn’t expecting something in return? Nudge nudge.”
