AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Prologue
Davina
A gurgling sound halted me from moving forward. Quickly, I took in my surroundings, but all I saw were the dark streets of New York, with dim overhead lights illuminating my path back to my studio. An icy shiver ran through my body.
It was past midnight, and the moon was hidden under the looming snow storm, which was why I’d been sent home before my night-shift at the diner was over.
No taxis ran through this part of town — not at this time of night, unless called. The bit of change I’d made from three hours of tips couldn’t be wasted on a ride. The roof over my head was far more important.
Glimpsing behind me one last time, I pulled my beanie lower over my head, crossing my arms to keep warm as the snow flurries fell. The left-over snow crunched beneath my feathery footfalls, the threatening feeling of danger causing me to keep my eyes focused ahead and my body on alert.
The unusual sound turned to a whimper, followed by a fist meeting skin. I tried to breathe out the nerves that kept climbing, rising with each step I took.
“Please,” a voice begged. “I have a family.”
I froze, afraid.
I couldn’t cross the alleyway where the sounds originated without being seen. I turned back, but was too far to retreat my steps to be out of the view of the street.
I noticed a dark SUV parked one block away from the alley as I pressed my back to the brick, catching my coat on its grainy texture. My eyes stayed on the blacked-out SUV, hoping it was empty; hoping I couldn’t be seen.
“Do you have the payment?” a deep voice asked without a trace of emotion.
“I have a family,” the man repeated through his whimpers.
“They all do.” His sigh was loud, bored, but his threat remained frightening as his voice deepened. “Don’t make me repeat myself.”
“He said I had another week!” the man spluttered.
“Yeah, that was before you called from your warm office, surrounded by your bodyguards, giving you the balls to speak to the boss like you did.”
Feet shuffled, and I sank to the ground, crawling towards the metal trash cans in the entry of the backstreet, wishing the darkness would cloak my body from view of the SUV as its door opened.
Using my raven black hair as a shield, I lowered my face to the side. A small opening between the black bags and debris allowed me to watch the view before me while remaining hidden. My breathing quickened, and I bit my shaking bottom lip in an attempt to hold in my fear. The piercing sound of a gun cocking as a bullet shifted to the chamber sent my body into a quiver.
My eyes closed as the gun lowered to the kneeling older man with a bowed head.
The feel of warm tears against my cold cheeks forced my eyes shut, trapping them behind my lids. I caught my sniffles, blowing them into the frosty air to mute any sound my emotions tried to make.
Unwillingly, my eyes snapped open, my gaze sliding back to the man in the shadows.
“The payment?”
My heart pounded.
My tears fell.
My body numbed.
The slight head shake of the kneeling man was the answer the shadowed frame needed.
The muffled sound of a lone silent bullet slipping quietly into the air had no match to the sound once it hit its target. My cry found my ears when the hollow sound of bone and flesh ripped through the man’s head, causing a wet splatter to stain the snow. I slapped my palm over my mouth as tears rapidly escaped at the sight of the body flopping lifelessly to the ground.
The dreadful feeling of a presence caused my head to turn, my skin to prickle, my panic to rise. My eyes landed on a pair of dark slacks that were mere inches from me, and I couldn’t hold in my cries anymore.
With tearful eyes, I lifted my gaze to a man dressed in all black, except for a gray scarf covering his neck from the harsh winter, leaving only his face and black-inked hands exposed. I stared down at the hand, the bold tattooed letters catching my attention—NYS. New York Syndicate.
The Mafia.
