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fall; it slamme
oat soaking through to her skin. The heavy drops battered the fabric
rs wrapped around a string of black wooden rosary beads. She squeezed them. She squeezed them until the sharp edges of the cross
g Sr.'s mahogany casket was bein
ard knot. The metallic taste of adrenaline flooded the back of her throat. She
tery driveway. The heavy tires crushed the wet gravel. They stopped
nto the downpour. Their faces were blank. Their hands hovered near
ptile. Lila had studied his face for years - from newspaper clippings, from courthouse photographs, from the grainy security footage her handler had spread across a conference table two years ago. T
ace veil over her face with a gloved hand. Her moveme
Her eyes locked onto the heavy,
le. A pair of polished, custom-made leather
erling stepped
ross his broad shoulders. A bodyguard immediately rus
sharp, annoyed. He stepped out from under the co
rely hollow, swept over the gravestones. A slow,
novan was old, careful, the kind o
knees actually weakened. She bit down hard on her lower lip. The skin bro
at the casket. He stopped and turned his h
d to drop ten degrees. It was a s
, trying to loop her arm through Leo's t
of her reach without even looking at
cket. He pulled out a silver
s and weeping relatives, Leo put the cigarette between his lips. He flicked th
d back and blew a thick cloud of
had promised herself she would feel nothing when she finally stood in the same
been to him. Fifty yards. Forty-
t distance. Not tonight. Toni
dge of her black umbrel
he hem of her cheap trench coat, blowing it back to expose her
over the crowd. The smok
is eyes
gray fog, his gaze locked onto the sh
of the terror she knew a normal girl would feel under that stare. She looked l
But he could never
to his knuckles. His eyes narrowed. The boredom vanished
e rain, right at her, and the mocking smirk ret
he yanked the umbrella lower
uddles as she walked fast toward the cemetery exit. She d
eads pressed into her
r terrified eyes burned into the Viper's mind.
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