Page 88 of Impenitent Claim

Alonzo rushed back outside, phone pressed to his ear. “He won’t pick up,” my fiancé growled. “The don is always ready to screen my damn calls.”

I’d never heard Alonzo sound like a mobster. But he did now. In a way, it was more surprising than seeing the capo’s wife covered in blood.

“Call your aunt,” I suggested. “She can find your father and sound the alarm.”

“We’re cursed,cursed!” Signora Gianetti screamed.

I tugged her behind me, planning to force the slightly smaller woman into the back of Alonzo’s car. Something in the distance prickled at the back of my neck.

“Who did you say did this?” I hissed, tugging her along. She was shorter but had a good fifty pounds on me.

“The devil—”

“No, before that. A mask? Grey eyes?”

The signora nodded. “There was no color. They were cold, so very cold.”

“Did he speak?” A sudden chill swept down my spine. It shook my body.

“He didn’t have to. He moved like a shadow. A great, big, black shadow! I just know he was sent straight from hell!”

“So he didn’t speak?” I repeated.

“No,” she wailed. “He just killed them—killed them all!”

The spectre didn’t speak. That was good, right? They couldn’t hear his accent, slight though it was.

Shit, what am I saying?!Was I actually condoning this…murder? The Gianettis were my people.Myfamiglia.

Anger spiked in my veins, burning away the fear. How dare he. How fucking dare he!

“My boys aren’t the first to go,” the signora sobbed. “There’s been soldiers dying all over town.”

The deception slipped quickly and easily from my lips. “That’s what happens when we’re at war, signora. The Scorso Famiglia has taken many lives.”

She only nodded absently. Shock was settling in, and her gaze was turning sightless. I hurried her to the backseat, depositing her into the vehicle.

I just lied—for him. For my spectre.

I rubbed the back of my head as I looked around the seemingly happy, safe suburban neighborhood. He was out there, destroying my world, and I was the fool defending him.

“There are going to be rules,” I snapped under my breath. “If we’re going to play, the phantom is going to play bymyrules.”

With that declaration, I slammed my fist into the hood of the car.

Chapter 34 – Isabella

The air in the great room was thick with unspoken grief. Men in dark suits moved slowly, stiffly, their faces drawn and their eyes hollow, as if the weight of their sorrow was too much to carry. It took a great tragedy, like the assassination of a capo and his sons, to silence the loud, boisterous soldiers of the famiglia. Each handshake, each nod of acknowledgment, seemed heavy with things they couldn’t find the words to say. These men couldn’t deal with complex emotions. Any minute now, and their inability to express themselves would boil over into a raw explosion of anger. That was why it was important to keep them eating. When their hands and mouths were occupied, their wrath took a back seat.

Unfortunately, along with the consumption of food was a desperate thirst. Wine flowed from bottle to cup, a veritable river of crimson. The house staff were at their wits’ end as they hurried from the back to the front, taking the empty and discarded to replace with full and fresh.

My place in this mess? It was a fine line to walk as a hostess without demoting myself to help. The strega made sure to pointout my every mistake. Like a damn crow, she was always lurking in the eaves, ready to pounce with fingers eager to pinch and prod. Her withered lips were in a constant sneer, and her tongue was sharp with rebukes.

It didn’t stop me from taking care of the guests. They were our men, soldiers from my father’s reign.

And I had words for the monster preying on them. It was the only thing that kept me sane the whole morning, planning what to say and how to sneak away to say it. My absence would be noticed if I disappeared for too long.

Oh, but I was going to tear the Russian a new hole. How dare he slaughter the Gianetti boys. The father? Sure. He was a rotten man. Did he deserve it? Probably, if rumors were to be believed, but the sons hadn’t had time to flourish, to make their choices and leave a mark on the world.

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