This was the woman who carried a sibling that I would never get to meet.
“Cipi?” Dominic steps closer to me and puts his arm around my shoulders.
I don’t know how to feel. I don’t know what to think.
Skimming the description, the words blur before my eyes. My Dad met my mom years later in 1987. They married a year later, and I was born a year after that. Then Gigi was born twelve yearslater. I was only six years old when the whole Marconi family had been murdered and I didn’t even know it. My father had been married with a child, yet still felt the need to avenge the woman he’d lost seventeen years ago.
Now twenty years later I’m paying the price for his decision.
I don’t know how I feel about that.
“I need to go,” I mutter. “I need to go question Elio and talk to Gigi. She’s going to be mad at me for ruining her date.”
“I’ll come with you. We can take my car.”
“No,” I cut him off. My voice is sharper than I meant it to be.
A surprised look crosses his face. “What?”
“I think it’s better if I handle this alone. You’ve done good work Dominic, thank you. You should take the night off. I got it from here.” I move to brush past him, but he grabs my arms and stops me.
“What’s really going on, Cipi? I feel like you’re hiding something from me?” His eyes search my face but I don’t meet his gaze.
“I don’t think it’s a good idea if you’re on the case anymore. I was wrong for asking you to do this.” I stare at the floor. From the corner of my eye, I watch disbelief flicker across his face.
His grip on my arms tightens.
“What are you talking about, Cipi?”
“You kept your end of the deal. I won’t say anything about your brother.” I move forward but he blocks me again.
“I haven’t kept my end of the deal because we haven’t found the killer. What are you blabbing about Cipi?”
“You heard what I said Dominic.” I can’t look at him.
“I don’t give a crap about our deal. This is getting dangerous and I’m not stepping back. I don’t want anything to happen to you.”
“I’m a boss. I know what I have to do.” I step out of his grasp.
“That’s not what I’m saying. You brought me into this, Cipi. You don’t get to cut me loose. I need to finish this out,” he protests.
“This isn’t your battle, Dominic. Right now no one is taking me seriously. Everything that I’ve built is slipping through my hands.”
“That’s not true, Cipi.”
“Yes. It is. Right now my whole family is questioning everything I do. They’re upset that I haven’t found the killer yet. They think I’m too busy fucking my ex.” I shove my hands in the pocket of my coat.
Dominic scowls. “Fuck what they think. This is why you want me off the case?”
“It’s not that. I brought you in because I thought it would work, but it’s not working. Now you're questioning every damn decision I make. I need people who are just going to do what I say.”
“I’m not questioning you,” he steps closer. “I’m trying to protect you because I care about you.”
“You don’t understand Dom.” I take a shaky breath. “If the killer can’t get to me. They may come after you next. It’s a known fact that when you want to weaken the enemy you go after what they love the most.”
Dominic grabs me and pins me against the wall. One hand palms the wall near my head while the other one grips my face tight so I’m forced to look at him.
“You love me?” His lips are inches from mine.
