fina

ntiseptic smell of ble

A nurse, a neutral faction tattoo coiled on the

her work. "A stranger found you and pai

is world, curiosity was a blade

an running errands at a neutra

one office to another, earning a

n to save enough for a fresh loaf o

ind the academy, about to take my fir

ked the food from my grasp

nto the mud with his heel unti

hem, her laugh echoing

nto the pavement, the friction of leather against grit makin

oug

and cold as chipped i

respected instructor here, but it was an open secret s

cers with a look of prof

ed, her voice low. "Or I will have

Isabella shot me a look of pu

t to me on th

id softly. "I require someone to manage my

ted ins

es would not g

tral committee, threatening a syndicate war if Elena was not removed. To preserve thei

with rumors that I was a compromis

rented room when Sal's wife mat

he face, the sound a sharp c

ing but trouble

orner, two of Sal's men stepped from a narrow alley. A hand clamped over my mouth, and I was dragged int

in the trap house, Sal st

eap wood splintering, corn

the pupils dilated

d, his grimy hands reaching for my sh

not

boot for the switchblade I had

ross his face in a

crimson arc again

ack, a hand fly

t, unhinged laugh bub

of blood onto the floor. "The Falcones paid me fifty t

mming my back against it. Bracing my boots against the sink pede

ap phone lit up the greasy linoleum. The screen's fluorescence stung my

s me. You are a whore jus

. An automated alert from

unicated from the Falcone Family. An

screen, a hot pressure

ndow and threw the phone into the n

nst my ribs. The concrete below was a possible death; the room behind me was a certain one. Letting the chill settle in my bones, I launched myself into the five-story darkness wove

e a rough net. The impact drove the air from my lungs, but it broke the fall. I crashed through to the pavement below, battered and bleeding, but alive. The last thi