Page 28 of Heartless Sinner

“Find me someone I can get along with,” Marla warned.

I chuckled as I headed back into the bedroom to get dressed. “Trust me, I’d never make the mistake of giving you a bodyguard you hated.”

She didn’t ask for the details of my investigation, which was a good thing. Because the first thing I needed to scrutinize was her dead brother, Dmitri Preston.

Dmitri’s death didn’t sit well with me—the whole mark of a personal attack. The mob could get down and dirty when it needed to. We were never afraid of a good knife between the ribs or using a classic machine gun when the situation warranted. But nowadays we tried to be more discreet about how we dealt with people. After the long violent wars, and with so much other shit going on in the world, it was better to be quick and precise.

Making someone disappear, or delivering a sniper shot, or perhaps a clean, neat, and simple up-close stab or gunshot as you walked past the person on the street… that was how we handled things nowadays. It also helped prevent a full-scale war, because nobody really wanted that.

Except maybe someone did.

But if this person wanted to start a war, why go after such a low-level person like Dmitri Preston?

Toby met me at the lobby and we headed down the street. I didn’t want to take the car. As far as anyone was concerned we were just getting lunch and discussing the usual business.

“I want you to look into any enemies Dmitri Preston had,” I told him as we walked along the sidewalk. “And by that I mean personal enemies.”

“You think this was personal, boss?”

“The guy was beaten and stabbed multiple times. That’s either sending a really strong message, or it’s personal.”

“Could be someone trying to work their way up the ladder,” Toby pointed out.

I shook my head. “Easier ways of doing that.”

“The sniper would indicate a takeover.”

“But it doesn’t match Dmitri’s death.” And that was the biggest part of the puzzle I couldn’t figure out.

We stopped at the local burger joint that I liked, each of us ordering what we wanted. Contrary to popular belief, talking in public was the safest way to have conversations. Surrounded by people going about their day, it would be hard for anyone to eavesdrop unless they got really close, and remained that way, and that meant you could notice them. Picking hidden hideouts or empty holes-in-the-wall meant someone could easily plant a device or skulk in the shadows.

“You think that he pissed someone off?” Toby asked.

“I don’t know anything and that’s the problem.” I paid, picked up our food, and we went to find a park bench outside. “And until I do know, we have to assume that Marla’s a target as well.”

Toby nodded. “Dmitri was known for being reckless, a bit of a party guy. Not like his brother. Although I don’t think either of them are gonna be Mensa members anytime soon, I got the impression Dmitri was aware of his shortcomings.”

“And Alexander isn’t?”

Toby nodded again. We found a bench and table in front of a fountain at the local park and dug into our food.

“I know the old man’s not exactly known for his brain power,” I said, taking a drink of my soda. “Sounds like Marla’s the smartest one of the bunch.”

“She would be,” Toby agreed. “I pulled up all her info like you asked.”

That reminded me of something. “Why didn’t you include her among the files?”

Toby blinked, looking genuinely surprised. “I didn’t consider her, boss, to be honest. I mean, she’s not exactly on your level. I knew your old man was pushing you into the marriage so I figured politics was most important.”

Politics were always important.

“Everyone’s going to think that,” I realized. “Aren’t they? They’re going to wonder why I picked her.”

Toby considered this. He was really the only person besides Dante I could talk to about this kind of thing and Dante hated the mob life. Marco still didn’t take things seriously enough. I had to be careful that Toby never forgot his place, but when I was in charge, he was going to be one of my right-hand men, one of my advisors.

“They will for a while, boss, I can’t lie about that,” Toby admitted. “She doesn’t seem like the kind of person you’d marry for politics, considering her family’s rank. Some other higher level families might feel slighted. They might even say you knocked her up or something.”

I took a deep breath, even as protective fire flared in my chest at the idea of people thinking Marla wasn’t good enough for me. Just because she wasn’t from a powerful family didn’t mean that she wasn’t going to be a good partner and a loyal spouse. It didn’t mean she wasn’t smart and capable—I’d already seen plenty to the contrary. And the idea that I’d only condescend to marry her because I’d been stupid and knocked her up…

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