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“I killed your brother,” Rocco said, smiling, and I sat down on the bed, not wanting to look but engrossed. This could get messy. My father did his best to keep me out of the life he lived, but I’d seen things that could make anyone crazy. This felt different somehow. This man’s brother had tried to kill me, and I felt no pang of empathy for him. I didn’t care what happened to him, and maybe that made me cold. But I didn’t care.
Giovanni hurled himself forward, moving the chair, and Rocco chuckled. “We’ve got a live one,stellina.”
“Just give me the bitch and maybe I’ll let you live,” Giovanni growled.
Rocco just looked at him, head tilted, smiling. “That so?” he asked. “Your brother didn’t put up much of a fight, so I’m surprised you’re so…energetic.”
“Don’t fucking talk about my brother,” Giovanni warned.
Rocco reached into the back pocket of his jeans and pulled out a serrated knife. “Here’s the thing, Giovanni. I’ve clearly got the upper hand here. So you’re going to tell me who hired you and your brother to kill Allegra.”
“It wasn’t to kill her. It was to killyou,”Giovanni spat. “I don’t kill women.”
“How chivalrous of you. Your brother didn’t seem to have any qualms, because he went after Allegra as soon as he got the chance,” Rocco answered, his voice calm and steady. He flipped the knife in his hands and I watched, entranced. Was this what he did every day working as the muscle for Enzo Gallo? He probably did worse, honestly, but it was fascinating to watch him work. I didn’t know if I could handle watching the whole thing, though, especially when Rocco approached him with the knife. I looked away, but I could still hear Giovanni’s screams.
14
ROCCO
Giovanni screamed the second I put my knife to his throat, before I even pierced the skin. He was going to be an easy mark. I glanced over at Allegra, who was looking away, seeming pale. My breath caught in my throat. I wished there was somewhere else she could go, so she wouldn’t have to see this. I didn’t know how she’d feel about me when I finished.
Allegra excused herself to go into the bathroom and shut the door, and I sighed in relief. “Didn’t want the lady to see you like this, Giovanni,” I said in a teasing tone.
Giovanni gulped. “Don’t cut me, okay? Just let me go and I’ll leave you and your girl alone.”
“Who sent you on this job?” I asked, almost conversationally.
“You know I can’t tell you that,” Giovanni said in a whining tone.
“Why not?” I asked, piercing the skin slightly with my knife.
Giovanni gasped and the movement of his Adam’s apple made the cut deeper. Blood trickled down and pooled in the hollow of his collarbone. “Because he’ll kill me,” he gasped.
“You don’t think I’ll kill you?” I asked. “I killed your brother and, you know, I haven’t even thought about it. Hasn’t lost me a minute of sleep.”
I cut deeper and Giovanni let out a thin, reedy scream. “Please,” he pleaded hoarsely. “Please, I’ll tell you. It was Ricardo Gallo.”
Of course it was. I wasn’t exactly surprised, but I wondered if Enzo knew about Ricardo’s plan. I was a little disappointed that this had been so easy. I’d had much worse and longer interrogations, but it seemed Giovanni was a coward. “I’m disappointed in you, Giovanni,” I said. “I wonder if your little brother would have held out better.”
Giovanni looked terrified, twice my size but nearly crying. The sonofabitch could win an Oscar. He grinned right before he butted his head forward and hit me in the solar plexus. I doubled over and he headbutted me again. Pain jolted across my abdomen and ribs and I knew I'd popped a stitch, maybe all of them.
I grunted and Allegra called to me from the bathroom. “Rocco?”
“Allegra!” I yelled just as Giovanni barreled at me again. Fuck, he was big, and I was injured. My gun was in my spine sheath and I grabbed at it. It skidded to the floor and slid. Allegra came out of the bathroom and I looked over at her. “Grab the gun!”
She grabbed it instantly, drawing the hammer back just as Giovanni grunted and ran toward her instead of at me. She let out a little scream and shot, once, twice. Giovanni groaned, his lungs making a wheezing noise, and dropped to the ground, face-first.
“Oh my God,” Allegra said, her hands shaking as she dropped the gun.
“Stellina,” I gasped, struggling to my feet.
Allegra ran over to me, making a wide berth around the man on the floor, and she pressed her hand to my wound. I yelled, unable to help it, as pain like a knife stabbed through my fractured rib. “I’ve got to hold pressure,” she muttered, her brown eyes big and terrified.
“Fuck,” I cursed, my words sounding thick, stumbling toward the bed. Tears were streaming down Allegra’s face but she didn’t seem to notice. She helped me onto the bed and I wheezed, my breath feeling short. “We’ve got to get out of here,” I said, but my voice came out weak and thin.
Allegra wiped tears from her eyes as if they were bothering her, in her way. She wasn’t breaking down, my strong girl. I wanted to tell her that, tell her that she was strong, but I was fading fast. I blacked out looking into her worried brown eyes.
* * *
