The Don's Pawn, A Queen's Revenge

enzo

e drive back. The rat had talked eventually-they always did-but the stench of his fear and copper blood st

ence. I need

ting the cold, sterile darkness that usua

egistered the threat. I didn't make a sound as I stepped onto the plush

through the heavy curtains to illuminate a s

assassin? It didn't matter. I raised the gun, my finger tighten

smell

fume of the club girls I sometimes used to scratch an

a

d in mid-air. It was the scent of a ghost, a memory I had buried s

her sleep, her hair spilling over my pillow like a dark

idor for daring to defile my sanctuary. But my body, exhausted and drunk, betraye

in a pile, and slid into the bed beside her. The mattres

s soft, warm, alive. For the first time in a decade, the dark

the door sound

un was blinding, but the weight on

shoulder, her hand splayed over my heart. And my arm was wrappe

blow. I shoved her away, revulsion coil

think you're doing?"

m my bare chest to the gun on the nightstand, and finally to my face. Then, clarity dawned. She

y. "Is this how the Falcones do business? Sending their

her expression shifting from shock to a cold, calculating calm. She

st suite," she said, her voi

sh, cruel sound. "Or did you see an oppo

end herself. Instead, a smirk tou

retti, is that you found an intruder in your bed, and instead of killing me, you cuddled me like a ted

, forcing her to look at the darkness in my eyes. "Do not mistake my exhaustion

bruptly. "Now ge

rself like a toga, and walked to her suitcase. She dressed quickly in the bath

the door, her

. I hated that she had tricked me. But mostly,

there in the hallway, a look of gleeful anticipation plast

didn't look broken. S

cousin-a smile

rot teeth. "Your arrangements were... thoughtful. Vincenzo i

her jaw dropping as the co

els clicking down the hall, leavi