Ross
ver. Isabella Vitiello's thick Italian accent d
he little slum rat has finally realized she doesn't belong in a palac
g the neon lights of the Manhattan skyline. Her insults meant nothing to me. They were just words. I had built my
I said, my tone
went dead
finally hissed, her
raceable. In exchange, I di
to Sofia was the cornerstone of a massive syndicate alliance. If the current mistress caused a public sc
te cafe on Fifth Avenue," Isabell
licked and
h. I stepped back out into the freezing downpour. I didn't hail a cab. I
d, locked out of my third foster home in the dead of winter, the cold had kept me awake. It had kept me alive. Right
d for the private elevator. The doors sli
a sterile, blueish glow over the sprawling, custom-designed furnitur
at and dropped it right onto the c
hottest setting. I didn't wait for it to warm up. I stepped under the spr
scrubbing furiously at my forehead where Dante had kis
over. I wiped a circle away with the side of my hand. My eyes w
Dante during a drive-by shooting in our second year together. I had bled out on the floor of a restaurant, gr
the very back, where an old cardboard box sat hidden behind designer shoe racks. I pulled out a faded, oversized
looking down at the glittering grid of the city. I looked around the room
the bottles of Macallan and poured
the marble counter.
ate. Sleep well, *m
h turn. My thumbs hovered over the keyboard. I usually sent back
: *Good
ossed the phone
under the massive king-sized bed and dragged out a battered duff
ut my passport, my birth certificate, and a few basic t
keypad on the front door
ck under the bed, grabbed a thick hardcover book from the nightstand,
th, my muscles
rivate hallway, followed by the crackle of a security rad
red the book and looked around the cavernou
nother day in t
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