Chapter One
Capri
Dr.Naomi:You didn’t come in for your session today.I hope everything is okay.Please, text me back when you can.I won’t stop texting until you do.
7:35 PM
I stare blankly at my screen, feeling a rush of nothing but irritation.
Life would feel pretty easy if everyone stopped trying to save me and just left me alone.
I had told her, to her face, the first and last time I was in her office, that the only reason I was there was because my mother thought there was still something redeemable about me.I visited her to get my mom off my back.
The idea of divulging all my problems to a stranger makes my skin crawl.It feels like an invasion of my privacy.Besides, I am not about to spend hours confiding in someone who would pretend to understand what I’m going through.She probably has a rehearsed response that she gives all her clients.
I shove my cell into the back pocket of my jeans, tossing a carton of milk into my cart.Then I proceeded to scan the list in my hand to be sure I had ticked off every item.
The queue at the cashier’s desk had gone down, giving me the chance to wrap up with my payment on time and head out of the grocery store.
The scenery of Cobble Hill is aesthetically pleasing at night, with its streetlights casting a warm glow on the cobblestone sidewalks and residential buildings in uniform colors.It makes me a little pleased that I decided to ditch my car.
Not like I had driven since the incident.
I consider taking a shortcut, so I round a building that leads me down to the alley.The narrow pathway is cloaked in darkness, tinged with little light from the crescent moon that hangs low in the sky.The edge of my senses turns dull, void of any form of nervousness, not just because I have taken this alley more times than I can count, but because I can’t bring myself to feel anything, even if I wanted to.
My steps come to a screeching halt when I notice silhouettes of some people clustered in the middle of the alley.I want to shake it off and dismiss it as muggers, but something about them is off.Suddenly, one of them whips out a gun that makes the other back up against the wall.
My eyes widen as my hands threaten to give away the bags in my grip.
“Fancy running into you here, Leonardo.”The cold, crisp voice, thick with an Italian accent, wraps around me like death.
My body is knocked into overdrive, and my heart pounds against my chest.My brain screams at me to move, to run, but my legs seem to have a mind of their own.
“Please...”
“You have proven to be a sneaky little thing.”The sadism curled around the voice makes sweat break out on my skin.
The emotion that barrels through me feels foreign because I haven’t felt anything remotely close in weeks since the incident.It’s as though my body has shut down until this moment.
“I didn’t have a choice!”the masculine voice quivers.
“There’s always a choice, and yours was to snitch on the Cosa Nostra.You know the rules,fratello,and you broke them.The punishment for any form of betrayal is death.”
Oh God...
“Please ...just let me go.”
The assailant pauses for a second.“Run.”
He pushes his frame off the wall like a flash of lightning and bolts, but he doesn’t get far because multiple shots ring out, and he drops to the ground with a thud.
A low shriek leaves my lips, and I’m almost certain he heard me.I duck and press myself against the closest wall with a trembling breath.My eyes burn with unshed tears.
I just witnessed a murder, and I don’t know what to make of it.
My body racks with nerves, my chest heaving harshly.Crunching footsteps, sounds of boots hitting the tarred ground make my eyes go wide.I don’t think twice before running in the opposite direction, leaving behind the bag of groceries that drops with a loud thud.
I don’t know how long I run for, until I’m home, back pressed against my door.
