ter

y chair in front of my laptop. Maybe getting some work done would cure me. I had pape

mn

rd breath and c

That's wh

rs, and headed out, moving acros

wned for centuries. My brother and I grew up there, learning to navig

it was hi

s I had needed. I needed to talk to someone. I needed a

s housekeeper, a woman in mid-forties with sharp eyes and a simi

without asking whether I was there t

ng. I did not get on well with this woman and I'm still

his office, I d

the moment I walked in, my

with a grin. "The deadliest assassin our clan has ever known. The lady with so many on he

ing the door behind me.

a little concerned. I mean, at this point

y eyes. "O

what's the occasion? Did you get bored with killing pe

ms. "Maybe I ju

is brow. "O

"Didn't

hair across from him,

his expression easing a fraction. "I recog

f, but what was the poi

test execution, didn't

about it. But I do know who did it precisely. The lipstick

like making a

ng me. "And Uncle? I'd

ver just to tell me I'm irresponsible. That I'm

just tapped his fingers on the desk, his

ated sl

d before I could o

ade me

know you can handle yourself. Hell, you're better than

"You finall

get too full of yourself, signorina. You're secon

rossing my arms. "B

shing in the dim light of

atab

ed serious. A flicker of something unreadable p

as you do. I want the truth. But if you push too hard, you'll make yo

giving way to the raw, unspoken emotions t

y voice steady. "

of his desk lamp. Finally, he exhaled, leaning back in his chair, a han

my chest, constricti

a smirk. "You'd b

back, tilting his

weight of our words lingered. Ben

had ea

what I wanted. I wouldn't let this en

pping further into th

d over his face. "Promise me you

outh to respo

u

my palm, the sound slicing

down at

ber. A sing

to talk.

m felt

w tightening. And then, everything

d Lomba