AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Your sister-in-law is with someone in his family,” I countered instead of immediately offering Rorie the relief she would get from my short conversation with Diggs.
“That—she’s different,” Rorie answered carefully.
Cora glanced between us, mouth in a perfectly formed O as she waited for details Rorie clearly didn’t want to give.
I nodded. “You were mad that Diggs wouldn’t tell you what was happening, yet you keep warning me to stay away from him and won’t tell me why.”
Rorie’s expression fell as she realized the similarities, but I could see it in her eyes. She wouldn’t be the one to tell me. “It’s complicated,” she finally said. “It’s so complicated because they are good people.”
“But they’re dangerous,” I finished for her when she seemed to struggle with what else to say.
“Yes,” she choked out helplessly. “If you knew what Diggs had done, what he’s capable of, you would be shocked.”
The past year burst through my mind in terrifying and horrifying images. “Nothing can shock me,” I finally said, the words sounding numb to my own ears. “But if it eases your worries at all, that was the first time I’d seen him in a week. He wants to keep us apart just as much as you do.”
Her head moved in subtle nods as if she was relieved but worried because she knew it was hurting me. “It’s for the best.”
That pain searing my veins said otherwise, but I just nodded and slipped past them and into my classroom. Intent on focusing on my kids and forgetting about my agonizing past, neon masks, and men that could ruin me with a night.
With a touch...
With ridiculous, irrational words.
DIGGS
We had two more bodies—a dental assistant and a gas station manager. The T and O marring their skin confirmed what I’d been saying all along and what Kieran had amended: This was personal, and it was personal to Borellos.
At least...those of us who were still left.
A good majority of Borellos hadn’t been happy when Dare started working toward legitimizing the family. When he disbanded, those old school members had gone searching for other mafia families who were still heavy in the old ways.
Any one of them would feel betrayed that we’d created a new family—especially with Kieran and Conor. But, even for Einstein, it would take time to track them all down. It would take even longer to look into their whereabouts to see if they were here.
We didn’t have time.
We had bodies. We had a town taking notice of the number of disappearances and deaths. We had a paid-off coroner working overtime to ensure no one found out the deaths were anything other than natural or accidental.
Our luck was bound to run out.
Not to mention, we were running out of letters. And with each new letter, with each new body I was so easily led to, we were all convinced something big was coming at the end.
On top of everything else, there was Tree. A constant whisper in my veins. An endless calling to be wherever she was...
And she’d been crying before she’d gotten to the school this morning.
It’d taken physical effort to stay in place when I’d seen her. It’d taken strength I hadn’t been aware I had when I’d noticed her red-rimmed eyes and the way the glassiness of them made the green so much more vibrant.
I shifted restlessly as I fought the urge to leave. To go to her. To beg to know what or who had hurt her.
Except I was already actively doing that. Hurting her. Keeping her as far as I could stand, all while hoping she would see that I was bad for her. But the second she’d pushed back this morning, I’d known in the heaving of my chest and screaming of my soul that I’d fucked up. Ruined everything that would ever truly matter in ways that honestly scared me.
But there were bodies on top of bodies...so I’d still forced myself to leave.
“Where would you hit?” Einstein asked suddenly, making the three of us look at each other and then at her from where we sat in our usual booth at Brooks Street Café since we were always here on Monday mornings.
Routine.
Part of Dare’s threat orders: Keep routine. No one goes anywhere alone. Free time and nights are spent locked up in the Borello house.
