Discarded Love, The Reaper's Regret

him without a glance. Too busy texting his true love, Sofia, he was blind to the annu

e "Caged Canary," cleaning his messes while metic

ly shaming me after a past love letter was rea

bleeding and concussed, rushing instead to protect Sofia. Disc

eholder, fueled a profound injustice. How could he be so letha

transfer dismantling his empire, and staged my own death. Under a new identity, I

pte

Vitiel

at would end our marriage while he was

nature that had signed death warrants for half the criminal underworld in Ne

his voice devoi

lie from a mile away but couldn't see that his wife had just handed him a

ainst the bulletproof glass. My hands were folded in my lap, perfectly still

es wide with horror and a twisted sort

was having a crisis about a broken heel o

've been scrubbing his blood out of his shirts for three years. You saved his family's a

sip of my tea. It tasted like ash. "I am less t

to a precision halt at the curb. The pedestrians scattered li

man who had taken over the New York Outfit's enforcement division at twenty-two and turned it into a machi

here,"

y hand. "Do you h

secured the apartment. The flight is in

emed to drop. Two soldiers walked in first, scanning

wept back, revealing a face that was beautiful in the way a thunderstorm is beautiful

t wasn't a greeting

plied, standi

My mother expec

ed and walked out, expecting m

me, but Dante was already inside the SUV. I slid onto the leather seat beside him. The c

's pe

the car was heavy, suffocating. Dante wa

ddenly, not looking up. "The vendor contra

my ribs. "Yes," I lied.

chest. "Good. I don't want any l

clean slate. I was giving him the clea

one was specific. It pier

ed immediate

window, countin

from cold command to something softer, som

aw tightening. The temperature

arled into the phone. "If he touched you,

tion glass. "Change of plans. G

id quietly. "

e ice, blue and impenetrable. "Sofia is in

" I said, my voice steady.

ained everything. As if that justified st

t wasn't the estate. It was a stre

ck," Dante ordered. "I

who had left him at the altar, the woman w

The rain was comi

ith one foot on the paveme

his mind already on her. "

make sure you re

y water onto my shoes. I stood there for a moment, watching the taillights disappear, realizi