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“Maybe you’re right. Maybe I like keeping secrets, but secrets are what keep these families alive. Secrets are what keep people from being hurt in the end, Delaney.”
“Who from getting hurt?”
“You.”
“You’ve already hurt me, Luka. Deeper than you could realize.” I sigh. She’s right. I have hurt her. I have broken her, and there was no way around it. There was nothing I could do to stop it either.
“If you want an apology, you’re looking in the wrong place,Bellissima.”
“I’m not looking for anything from you. Now, if you’ll excuse me,” she says, stepping to the side. I do the same and block her path.
“Is that what you want? An apology?”
“I don’t want anything from you, Luka.”
“I think you do, and trust me when I say I’d love to give it to you, but I can’t.”
“As I said, I don’t want anything from you, Luka. You make me sick to even look at,” she tells me.
“That wasn’t always the case,” I tell her.
“No. It wasn’t. There was a time when I thought you were a great person. You actually cared about someone other than yourself. Those days are long gone. You were just a boy then, and now you’re a man who doesn’t care who he hurts.”
“I hurt you.”
“You never stop hurting me.” With that, she steps around me and climbs into the waiting car. I grin at her through the dark window before checking my watch and heading down the block.
I walk to the laundry mat and head inside, whistling a tune when old Mr. Wilson spots me. His eyes widen before he shifts from foot to foot.
“Don’t alert them,” I warn him casually as he reaches for the button I know to be under the counter. He slowly slides his hand back, clasping them in front of him. “I didn’t want to believe it at first. You, of all people. You were one of the good ones, Mr. Wilson.”
“I-I,” he stutters as he looks me in the eye. He knows what he’s done wrong. I can see it in his eyes.
“There is nothing for you to say. We know what’s been going on around here. What doesn’t sit well with me, Mr. Wilson, is that you let it. I shouldn’t have to make any special trips down here, yet here I am,” I tell him as I pull my gun out and screw the silencer on while he watches me.
“I’m sorry, Luka. They’re very persuasive.”
“As am I.”
“I didn’t know what to do,” he confesses, and maybe he didn’t. Maybe he was just lured into their little web of deceit. But it’s too late now. I raise the gun and pull the trigger watching as the man falls to the floor behind the counter. Next, I make my way over to the counter and step over his body before pressing the other button. The wall shifts and slides, revealing a door no one would have known was back here but us. I keep my gun ready as I push open the door and step inside the back room. All heads turn my way, and eyes widen.
“Look at this,” I say softly as I take in the men.
“Luka. What are you doing here?” One of them, Mr. Giovani, asks me.
“That’s a funny question considering.”
“Considering what?”
“I was about to ask you the same thing,” I tell him. I look around the room at some of the other people here. Most aren’t bosses like Giovani is. They’re low-life players who throw money at rich men to weasel their way in with them. Giovani is just stupid enough to let them.
“This isn’t what it looks like,” he says. I smile now and scratch the side of my head with my gun.
“It isn’t? This isn’t a gambling ring?”
“No. It’s just a friendly game, Luka. You know how that goes,” he says with a laugh.
“A friendly game, hmm? That’s a lot of money for a friendly game. What is it they’re winning, Giovani?” I ask, nodding toward the men. None of them say a word. None dare to speak a word while I’m standing here. When no one answers, I pick the first person closest to me and press the gun to his temple.
