Page 55 of Darkest Kiss

There's one of Marcus Caruso's body on the floor. Another of Andreas Vitelli's face in profile, gun still in hand, smoke visible. Clean timestamps, every frame usable. I've known professionals who couldn't have managed that.

I look up. She's watching me, waiting.

"You're something else. You know that?"

She shrugs. That's how she takes a compliment. "The second my uncle sold the building to a mafia family, I think I knew that something terrible was going to happen. It was only a matter of time."

"Thank you for these." I tap the phone. "I think they're about to be our saving grace."

"Good." Noemi leans her chin on her hand. "My uncle's death will mean something, then."

I forward everything to Ransom. His reply comes back in under a minute.

Fuck. These are better than I thought. Give me twenty.

"What's Ransom going to do with the photos?" Noemi asks.

My mouth kicks up at the corners. "Distribute them."

"I hope he makes Andreas suffer." She looks down, her jaw clenching.

"He will." I thread my fingers through hers, squeezing. It still feels odd to touch her so freely, to accept her touch. I already know intellectually that she won't hurt me.

It's instinct that makes me flinch when she squeezes back. "Fuck. Sorry."

Noemi grips my hand, not letting me pull back, and gives me a half-smile. "I don't expect you to relearn a lifetime of conditioning overnight. We've been together for less than a month and had sex a handful of times. My pussy isn't magic."

Her using the word pussy puts a smile on my face. "Yeah, okay. I just want to be perfect for you."

She reaches out very slowly, making intense eye contact, and cups my jaw. "You really do, don't you?"

"More than anything." Our connection sizzles, alive and electric. I used to think being with a girl would mean fucking her all the time.

But this, holding hands, her cupping my face? It's better.

More.

* * *

Ransom doesn't sit on a weapon once he has it. He sends the photos to every outlet in the city, every council member's office, every precinct commander including the three on the King payroll. Some sorry sons of bitches are about to have a genuinely terrible morning.

Everyone in the media gets the same package at the same time, so nobody can quietly make it disappear before the others see it. The Vitellis lose their political cover in about fifteen minutes flat. By the time the first alert goes live two hours later, their allies are already running.

I pull up social media. Post after post, councilmember after councilmember, each statement more outraged than the last. Condemnation, distancing, vows to never deal with Andreas Vitelli again.

I grin at my phone. "Fucking hell. They move quickly."

Noemi reads over my shoulder for a minute. Then she says, "They're all going to pretend they never knew him."

"That's the point."

"It's almost worse than what Andreas did." She picks up her coffee. "At least he knew what he was. These people were pretending that being next to a monster was fine as long as nobody looked."

"Speaking of." I set the phone down. There's no soft way in, so I don't bother looking for one. "Your aunt tied herself to the Vitellis. The job, the protection. All of it. That money's about to disappear."

Her face crumples. "Oh. That's probably bad news for Aunt Kathleen."

"No job, no payout, no protection." I hesitate. "If I didn't think you'd object, I'd take her out myself for her role in your kidnapping."