Page 204 of Safe Word

But I couldn’t stop listening. Because she was talking about him. About the weapon deals, the pain, the things he’d done to her – how she’d finally turned him in. But not before he’d broken her in ways that made my blood curdle.

Her brother asked questions – the right kind. ‘Where was I?’ and the like. But it still didn’t change the past – nor how deep it cut.

I couldn’t get my mind out of the gutter – how could they have lived with her without noticing a single thing?

The dog yelped beneath my touch. I pulled back fast.

Shit. I might’ve squeezed too hard, caught between rage and remorse I couldn’t shake loose.

‘Sorry,’ I muttered to the rat. It blinked once and resumed wagging, seemingly unfazed. ‘That’s because you’re not grown enough to get scratches from monsters like me.’

The doorbell rang.

I jerked up from the couch, adrenaline tearing through me. The rat-dog growled on the way down as it puffed up in front of the door, listening.

The clock read nearly eight – not exactly a time to visit. My heart thumped once against my ribs – hard. Vinnie, maybe. Hopefully.

As I swung the hall door open, Paula and Matteo emerged from the archway into the kitchen.

Matteo was holding a fucking hand cannon.

And my little angel held her pistol, too.

I blinked, that tiny, festering thought needling back in – the one about her family.

But goddamn, the sight of her like that… I nearly dragged her by the hair and kissed the fire right out of her. Right there in the hall.

‘It’s Vinnie,’ she said quietly as she peered through the window, the tension melting off her shoulders as she moved away from it.

I waved them off, trying – and failing – not to stare as she walked away, hips rolling like sin in that dress. My legs moved before my mind caught up, following that sway like my eyes couldn’t get enough.

At the top of the staircase, Alessio appeared – silent, strapped with a chest holster and twin Berettas like he’d stepped straight out of Sopranos.

I gave him a nod. He didn’t return it. Just watched.

And then I opened the door—

And nearly swallowed my fucking tongue.

One step away from me stood none other than Ezio.

The bastard’s eyes locked on mine like frosted glass with nothing behind them but rot. The bald patch caught the streetlamp, and made him look small and frail, every waxy angle of his face thrown into sharp relief.

And then – he smiled.

Up at me.

As if this were some friendly reunion and not a goddamn frontier.

Behind him, Vinnie stood tense, arms loose, gaze flicking between us like he was calculating trajectories.

‘He was at the office,’ he mouthed.

I didn’t breathe.

Didn’t move – because if I did, I might have torn him apart on the fucking doorstep.

‘What the fuck are you doing here?’ I growled, the words scraping up from somewhere deep – older than memory, older than rage.