fina

leather-soled shoes against the c

is hands and scrambled backward,

a lesson," the soldier stammered,

so much as gl

rgiving eyes w

d I found myself sliding down

down my throat was pulling me

ll, sliding down until I

collar up, but my numb fin

ice flat, stripped of all inflection. "Let her face

orward, their hands cla

llway and into the blinding l

the music pounde

rival bosses, and wealthy associates parted

ing with malice, and gestured sharply to the enforcers. "Pu

elevated glass stage in

rd surface w

nning, trying to find the edge t

sio sat in th

he plush leather, a glas

tone, but his knuckles were w

eighboring territory stepped

t the bottom of a tall,

ng bass. "Ten grand if the fallen Mafia Princess c

pted in jeers

cold glass, my b

gr

ten million I needed to buy my

aching body toward t

ver the gl

he narrow rim, reaching

red with sick

residue of alcohol and th

ropped it onto the st

, tossing a stack of

m, his eyes raking over my torn collar. "You should see the little crescent moo

bler in Cassio'

rough the music, silen

d from his clenched fist

d detached, ignited with a b

osa Nostra Don, held in check fo

across t

the throat and slammed him bac

bone echoed over the hea

hed the man

ice. Thr

ross Cassio's cr

his voice a tremor that shook the very foundations o

haos as the enforcers b

mbed onto

nd throwing me over his shoulder with an

s against his broad ba

terrifying effortlessness and kicked open

nto the large

t the cushions,

ed the door

ping his bloody knuckles

st heaving as he loomed over me. "You let th

his hand-smelling of blood and iron-moved with an unhurried certainty, wedging itself into the

, but not enough t

into his f

a's damp, bloods

ther belt striking my back

ten million dollars was the only way to bribe the

smantled

stroyed

e man whose hand was now

hand and slapped

was shar

napped to

metallic flavor of b

head back to

mil

dark, bro

punishment, Don Mor

io f

ightly, thrown by m

fabric wider, dragging it down just far enough to expose my chest and stomach to the harsh

k, his breath hitc

rso was a can

p marks crisscros

burn scars do

ss skin he used to

, letting him see

my voice dead, hollowed out by the weight of all

nt-but the shattered, desperate look of a man who was beginning to understand that