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“I will always be grateful to you for saving my life. But you’ve broken my heart.” She touched her throat. “This is the first time I feel like I don’t belong here. You gave me a home, and now you’ve taken it away.”
She picked up the envelopes and walked out of the room. I stood there, at a loss. I’d counted on her being upset with me but never considered I might actually lose her.
Maybe this was for the best. It wasn’t fair to make her stick around for what was coming.
As soon asI was back upstairs in my empty apartment, I turned on “Black” by Pearl Jam. I had listened to it on repeat for days on end. As Eddie Vedder sang, the words sank into my soul.
Visions of Vivian with someone else clouded my brain. Her smiles, her looks…all for another. Pain ripped through me, all of it playing over and over in my head as I imagined her being the sun in someone else’s sky.
Why couldn’t it be me? Why couldn’t I take what I wanted? I’d always done it before, never let anything get in my way.
But God, this woman deserved more than I could offer her, given what I had to do.
The red light of the security system lit.Vivian.I cursed myself for the foolish thought, yet I couldn’t stop hoping.
When Francisco Angelone appeared in my doorway, I straightened.
“All that security you pay for is shit,” he said, striding across the hardwood floor of my study. He dropped into a chair across from my desk as if he’d done it a thousand times.
“Get out.” I eased my finger to the trigger of the shotgun underneath my desk. A few times, I’d felt the piece was overkill. Vivian thought it was absurd, though she’d wanted to take it out for target practice. Now, I was grateful for my paranoia.
“I haven’t heard from you. I’m assuming you have news for me.” Angelone crossed his legs, resting his ankle on the opposite knee.
“Are you having financial problems? Can’t get your own deals? Is that why you came to me?” I smirked like I knew something he didn’t.
The corner of his mouth twitched, the only sign of his irritation.
“As I’ve stated, it’s time for you to pay your debt to me.” One shoulder lifted and lowered, his eyes indifferent. “For what you did, I’m letting you off easy. Take this deal, Elliott. It’s a no-brainer.”
“I can’t let you in on a deal that doesn’t exist.” Denial was my only friend right now.
Angelone shot to his feet and pounded on the edge of my desk. “You will cut me in, goddamn it!”
Lazily, I lifted my eyes to his blazing ones. “I am not at your mercy.”
His gaze narrowed on me. “We’ll see about that.”
“I suggest you leave now.”
“This isn’t finished.”
“It most certainly is.”
Palms flat on the center of my desk, he leaned forward until I caught the stench of stale cigars. I tightened my finger on the trigger of the gun.
“Let me in, and I’ll make Donato’s mess go away.”
I straightened. He had my attention. This was a deal I could take. Giving him half of the profit from the canary diamond was nothing if it solved my other problems. Except Vinny had stolen the goddamn thing and I had no room to negotiate.
I flashed him an insincere smile. “No.”
He tilted his head and narrowed his eyes as if he didn’t understand me. Angelone was certain he’d found a way to make me bend to his will, yet I’d refused.
“You want to be head of the family,” he surmised, eyes glimmering with interest. “I’ll be damned. You’re going to let him sink.”
“We both know it’s impossible for me to take over.”
“Nothing is impossible.”
