Page 109 of The Savage

‘I don’t know names – just contacts. Dead drops. Phones we discard. He’s careful.’

‘Careful doesn’t mean clean.’ I step closer, crouch so we’re eye-level. ‘What does he want with Giada?’

His eyes jerk towards mine.

A flicker too quick to be accidental.

Oh.

So he does know that part.

‘Tell me,’ I say.

He wets his lips. ‘His niece… she knows something.’

‘What?’

‘I don’t know.’ His breathing is fast now. ‘Just… that she was there. That if she remembers, it’s over. For all of us.’

I hold his gaze for another long beat – sifting for truth in the tremor of his pupils, in the sweat on his brow.

He’s telling me what he knows, which means the rest is higher up the chain.

Vittore.

New threat. Old blood. Tight leash.

I straighten, pull a cloth from the table, and wipe my hands slowly, as if I’m wiping the last of his usefulness off me.

He realises it too.

‘Wait—’ he blurts. ‘I told you⁠—’

I toss the cloth into the bin. ‘You told me enough to make me curious. You didn’t tell me enough to live.’

His face crumples into sheer terror. ‘You said I’d walk out⁠—’

‘I said you’d walk out breathing if you were honest.’ I shrug. ‘You were honest about what you knew. Unfortunately for you, it wasn’t much.’

One of my men steps forward.

‘Dispose of him,’ I say.

‘No – no, please⁠—’

The pleas fade behind me as I stride out. Steel in my chest. Ice in my veins. A hot, pulsing need to get upstairs and find Giada and make sure she’s okay. Make sure she hasn’t been out of my sight long enough to make plans that will give me heart attacks.

My phone is buzzing again before I reach the top step.

I see the name.

Cesare.

Of course.

I answer as I hit the corridor, forcing my breathing to sound normal. Knowing I’ve failed miserably even before I hear his low growl of control barely holding.

‘You choose to answer your phone now, frate? You’re bordering on insubordination, you know⁠—’