Page 73 of Broken Promises

I startled when I turned to open the door and found Beckett standing there with her arms crossed and a glare on her face.

She thankfully took a step back when I grabbed the handle.

“Morning, Beckett. Lovely to see you as always,” Ander called out, earning a snort of annoyance in return from her.

“Give me a reason, Lavaro.”

“My gun’s bigger than yours,” he joked, giving me a wink as I turned to give him a dirty look. “Right, Bluebird? Tell her all about it.”

“Ugh,” I huffed and shut the door to shut him up, hearing him laugh as he started backing out.

“I don’t want to know about his gun,” Beckett said flatly as we walked towards the door.

“Good. I don’t want to talk about it,” I replied, noticing how quiet it was. I’d been here a couple of times, and it had always been hectic with people everywhere. It was a ghost town today.

“So, tell me about the break in.”

I winced, knowing she was going to bring it up but hoping she’d talk about something else first so I could warm up to the conversation. Murder and dead bodies were just part of daily life to Beckett, but not to me.

“One of Stefano’s guys broke in when we were sleeping. I walked in as Ander shot him.”

“Haven’t seen a lot of dead bodies?”

“Before these past few weeks? Only my brother and that girl you killed last year,” I mumbled, remembering how Logan hadbeen part of luring her into a secluded place. I’d almost thrown up for us being involved, let alone seeing the body. “Now I’ve seen mafia lackeys and rapists drop.”

“The good news is if they keep dropping at this rate, you’ll be used to it in no time,” she joked, sitting at the empty bar and turning to face me as I sat on a stool beside her. “The guy last night came alone?”

“It seems so. Ander checked outside and had people come and clean up the body. No one else was around. Is that normal? I thought if they’d come to kill me and Zavier that there would be a few of them.”

“Sending one person can be easier sometimes. They don’t see you guys as a physical threat, so they’d underestimate you. Did he say anything?”

I hesitated, not knowing how much to tell her. Ander wasn’t a bad guy, but the fluent second language had thrown me off a little.

He hadn’t struggled to understand the guy at all, and as much as I didn’t know any Italian, Ander’s words had been said with confidence.

“He spoke in Italian. Did you know Ander was fluent? They were having a whole conversation before I interrupted them,” I finally said carefully, a little relieved when she shrugged casually and didn’t seem bothered.

I was overreacting.

“I didn’t, but it makes sense if he’s been working with them for a while. It would be stupid not to understand the language if those around him spoke it. He’s close with the mafia prince, right?”

“Yeah, he said Dante taught him some things.”

“I don’t trust Ander, but I really don’t trust Dante. Ander might think he’s loyal to him because they formed a friendship, but mafia kids aren’t just trained, their obedience is beaten intothem to turn them into monsters. Dante could very well be playing Ander,” Beckett mused, lighting a cigarette and offering me one.

“How can we find out?”

“We can’t know for sure until this plays out. You need to be careful, Raven. I know you’re forming some type of connection with Ander, but he could very easily get you killed with his own blindness. His trust in Dante is disturbing. Chances are high that Dante is playing along so when Ander makes a move, Dante can stab him in the back and give his father a heads up,” she warned as I lit my cigarette too, both of us smoking in silence for a moment before she changed the subject. “You told me you can fight, but I’ve still never seen proof of that. You hide behind the guys like a shield.”

“It was the truth. I just promised Reid I wouldn’t anymore,” I scoffed, and she raised an eyebrow at me.

“Prove it. You probably just pull hair and pray you get a lucky knee shot to their face. Those fights you mentioned were probably made up to make yourself look tough.”

“I don’t need to prove shit to you, Beckett.”

“Yeah, you do. I bet your hits are like wet cardboard.”

“I would’ve won if that bitch hadn’t pulled a fucking knife.”

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