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I needed more time to think through the case. If I could figure out who the body belonged to, it would be easier to look for a connection to the Marchesis.
I slipped the ring back into the evidence bag and placed it in my pocket. I should sign it out into my custody, but I didn’t. For now, I didn’t want anyone else asking about the ring. Devil was mine to deal with.
15
Devil
After a harrowing evening when Cameron had fallen into the hands of our enemy, Angelo and I finally tracked Sergio down and eliminated him. Angelo shot him and set fire to his house. We watched until we were sure there was no chance Sergio would use his last few breaths to crawl free from the blaze.
Sirens screamed in the distance.
“That’s our signal to leave,” I said.
I was about to start my bike’s engine when Angelo shouted. “Oh fuck. No.”
“What’s wrong?”
“My ring. It’s not on my finger. It probably came off when Sergio and I were fighting. Lucien’s going to fucking kill me.”
Nonna had given us matching rings for our sixteenth birthdays. I pulled mine off and handed it to Angelo. “Take mine. You’ve been through hell today. You don’t need to deal with Luce being pissed at you for leaving evidence behind.”
Angelo frowned. “But he’ll be harder on you. He expects you to screw up.”
“I can handle it. I’m used to it.”
He worked the ring onto his finger. “Thank you. You know I’d do anything for you too, right?”
He would. We would die for each other. “I do.”
“Including listen to whatever happened with Detective Daniels.”
I looked down, trying to appear very interested in my boots. The words were right there ready to spill out, but what if Angelo couldn’t understand? What if he thought I’d betrayed the family by fucking Daniels? What if he was angry I’d gone behind Lucien’s back? “I just can’t tell you.”
Angelo laid a hand on my shoulder. “I won’t tell anyone else, not even Lucien.”
We needed to get out of there. Even if I could bring myself to confess, I didn’t have time to explain it all. “This is…” My voice cracked, and I was sure Angel noticed. “I just can’t.”
That night, Lucien, Angelo, and I got thoroughly wasted. After much too little sleep, I was rudely kicked awake by Lucien demanding I come to his office. The cops were already sniffing around Cameron about the fire.
When everyone was there, Lucien looked at Cameron. “We need to know everything that happened when you talked to Detective Daniels,” Lucien said.
My stomach flip-flopped, and I made a strangled sound. “Joseph Daniels?”
Cameron frowned. “Yes. Why?”
Lucien glared at me. “Is this the detective you had a run-in with?”
“Yes, but—”
“Fuck, Devil. You’ve got to be more careful.”
“He’s good at his job. Really fucking good.”
Lucien nodded, acknowledging me as Angelo asked a question I didn’t hear. If Joe knew I was involved in the murder, I was going to have to take some drastic steps, and I was going to have to do it on my own.
I was so distracted thinking about facing Joe again and thinking about what I could offer in another bargain, I didn’t hear everything the others discussed until Cameron said the thing I’d been hoping not to hear. “The detective has a ring like this.”
Cameron’s finger brushed Angelo’s ring, and Lucien turned to me. “I told you they’d find it.”
The disappointment in his eyes made me even queasier than I already was.
Lucien, Angelo, and I came up with a story for how the ring had ended up at Sergio’s without me having been in the vicinity. We planned to say the ring had been stolen from a jewelry store—one that had been recently vandalized by Sergio’s men—when I’d left it to be cleaned. When Lucien was satisfied, I managed to slip away as the rest of the family congratulated Angelo and Cameron on making their relationship official.
We needed some joy in the midst of the tension we’d been under, and I was happy for them. I truly was. But I wasn’t going to be able to celebrate until I figured out what the fuck I was going to do about Joe. I couldn’t let anyone know about our connection. Even if I’d been willing to confess, Lucien would never let me do what I had planned. I was going to break into Joe’s house again and steal the ring, assuming he hadn’t returned it to evidence before going home for the night.
I was on my own for this one. I wasn’t going to have the backing of my family when I walked into danger. Lucien would want me to make a careful plan, but I didn’t have time for that, I needed to get to Joe quickly. I needed to get Angelo’s ring back because there were people who would know the difference between the two rings and not all of them were people who would lie for us.
