Page 6 of King of Omen

I shot a scorched glare toward Lorenzo on the other side of the aisle and found him staring dead straight at me with a cold iciness.

I shut my eyes for a long moment, turned to his sentinel and snarled. ‘I’ll move.’

LORENZO

She slipped away after Mauri dealt with her.

Fleeing down the aisle as the choir led the congregation in Bianca’s favourite song.

Her departure, swift and silent even in her heels, left only the faint wisps of her perfume.

I refused to dwell further on her sudden exit as the service continued.

Bianca’s friends from the local community recounted eulogies, remembrances and readings.

Vitto provided our family’s contribution, sharing a moving, short tribute to our aunt’s life.

After informing the congregation of the wake to come after, the cleric ended the service, and the crowds surged forward to offer their condolences.

I made my way through the mourners, searching for any sign of the mysterious woman in lilac. She was nowhere to be found among the sombre crowd.

Vitto’s hand on my elbow brought me back to reality, and I followed him as we approached the front of the church to thank the priest for the heartwarming service.

We were the only members of Bianca’s direct family present, so he folded us to his side so the mourners had the opportunity to pay their respects.

Condolences were offered, tears were shed, and distant relatives I had never met murmured words of comfort.

Amidst the suffering faces, I caught a glimpse —just a flash of purple fabric disappearing into a small white van. The lilac of her dress, vivid against the grey of the concrete parking lot.

The car pulled away, and she was gone.

In that instant, my dark heart jolted with an indescribable emotion as if it’d been torn from a fleeting anchor it had just found, only to float astray once more.

Fuck, despite my ire at her audacity of sitting with the family, her essence and stricken anger had blown through my grief.

I sucked my teeth, wondering once again who the hell she’d been, intrigued at how she’d dared glare at me in defiance.

Right then and there, I made up my mind to move heaven and earth to find out.

Chapter 2

MIA

Irushed to Bianca’s house to prepare it for the wake.

There was to be no burial as she’d requested a cremation.

After checking with her nephews via email, I’d arranged with the funeral director for her ashes to be delivered to me later in the week.

I had been instructed to pass them on to her family. To Lorenzo and Vitto.

The thought sent a wild rage through me as I stepped out of my compact car and dashed inside the home.

Who the hell had Lorenzo thought he was, barging in from overseas and calling the shots of who sat where when I’d done all the planning for that service?

Granted, he hadn’t known who I was.

Still, I’d seethed at him from the back of the church for the rest of the memorial, relegated to the shadows, embarrassed at being taken down a notch so publicly.

---