Too Late, Mafia Boss: Watch Me Shine

cing my dignity to drag Luca back from the

woman he claimed as his own wasn't me. I

soup with poison and watc

needed my medical signature, Elena's enforcers pin

outine, Claire. Make m

oked at me with cold disgust, wrapped his arms around E

thy clown makeup on my face and tore my digni

eir twisted games, my mother flatl

hree years of keeping him alive amounted to nothing, or why he

old floor outside the hospital morgue, the

d the hidden evidence of their crimes,

g Omertà. Fil

pte

ire

the crystal chandeliers pressing down on my bare shoulders, waiting for

gh the microphone, and the name Luc

legitimate h

ruck me like a physical wave, a roar of sound

r three years, I had played the fool-the relentl

lts like bitter pills, and dragged Luca piece by piece fro

to inherit the

blue he always loved. His gaze swept the crowd with the dispassio

not loo

from the velvet dark

mson silk that clung to her limbs like a second skin. A l

nd expectant. Everyone knew who I was.

f granite, cleared his throat, the sound a

microphone, his disple

e slammed her champagne fl

snapped with a so

r voice cutting through th

g three steps behind him, waiting for whatev

e sibilant whispers of the Capos and

ghing. They w

ight enough to leave bruises on her pale skin, and pul

he ballroom grew thin and hot, the starched co

ir stares, I turned and pushed m

. I needed a

ate's courtyard was shar

self, my heels sinking into

ifted from the stone arch

m there. Lu

rare, unguarded smile softening the hard li

le Don persona he wore inside, red

ed at me like

and on his chest, her manicured nails

ed, his expression shuttering as if a

a murmured, her tone thick with a feigne

ed off the wall and t

ame blotted out

laire?" he mocked, his voice a low, cruel rumble. "So y

ed up

ped from his knuckles after he fought in the un

ed awake, humming forgotten lullabies u

I said, my voice a low tremor that

sh, impatient brea

doing this?

k a few shared moments meant a thing? Kissin

d his ba

hand, the one bearing the sprawlin

he vowed, his voice ringing with a

ed his finge

t air, I felt the warmth

ed on her. He had discarded m

departure before the Don's first off

te Family dinner comme

le was crowded with C

a knot of hot iron twi

r the table, a cold sweat

fell over

d beside

dipped it into my bowl of clea

the soup. My

ith that same spoon when a fever

his former tenderness, I opened

the porcelain bowl, the sound sharp enough

n, his lips b

he whispered, his tone flat, clinica

ed with sickening clarity-the man I had kept alive fo