Page 19 of The Italian Reckoning
“Not if it involves him, you don’t.”
“See, that’s where you and I differ, Sarah. You’re so caught up in your rules and regulations that I bet the real assholes of the world just slip through your fingers. How many people have you let walk on a technicality, huh?” Leaning close, I match the anger in her eyes with fire in my words. “Inmyworld, I can make sure the truly evil people get what’s coming to them while you grant them freedom because someone didn’t cross a T or dot an I. You’re incapable of getting justice, but me? Belle’s father will thank me for the rest of his life—hey!”
The words are barely out of my mouth when Sarah lunges at me, trips me by kicking my ankle out from underneath me, and tosses me to the ground with a knee planted firmly in the small of my back.
“That’s enough out of you,” she snaps, jerking my wrist back. “You’re under arrest for obstruction!”
“You can’t holdme here forever.” The cold handcuffs around my wrist clink against the metal hook keeping me tied to the desk. “Unless you want to, in which case I have no complaints, but there really should be a safe word discussion beforehand.”
“Shut up.” Sarah sits across from me with her arms crossed. She glares daggers at me, but there’s a subtle hint of uncertainty behind her fury. She reacted and arrested me because I pushed her buttons, clearly a painful few at that, but now she has me in here and we both know she can’t keep me here for long.
Not just because I have one hell of a good lawyer on retainer.
“I’m just saying…” Spreading my palms flat against the metal table, I lean back with a sigh and bounce my left knee. “You’ll be in more trouble than me when this is over.”
“You were stalking a witness?—”
“Stalking?” Laughter bursts out of me. “I don’t know if I’m more impressed that you think you can sell that or that you’re stupid enough to think that’s what I was doing.”
“I know what you were doing,” she replies. “Youbasicallyadmitted it.”
“But in your world, you requireproof,and we both know you don’t have shit.”
“You’re pretty concerned about the burden of proof for a criminal.”
“I’m just a regular guy.” My leg bounces harder. “Who knows why you’re wasting time with me instead of chasing after the real villain.”
“How do I know you’re not him, hmm?” She leans forward and clasps her hands together on the table while her glasses slip an inch down her nose. “You claim we’re after the same thing, but maybe all I see is a criminal doing everything he can to cover up his crime.”
“You think I killed Belle? You’re fucking delusional.”
“Am I?” She tilts her head much like she did last night, but now she reminds me of a snake rather than a puppy. “Somehow, you’re everywhere I turn.”
“Oh, you have no idea,” I murmur under my breath.
“Seems to me like you’re more connected than you want me to think.”
“She was the daughter of afriend.”
“Is that all it is?” Her brows lift. “Maybe this was a threat? Payback. Intimidation. Maybe Gio didn’t do what you wanted and you killed his niece to punish him.”
“You’re so far from the fucking truth.”
“Am I?” Her voice lifts. “Because we both know that no one on the street has claimed this kill, which means it’s either an inside job or Gio did it himself. So who are you protecting?”
“Why do you care?” Irritation warms my blood to the point that my shirt sticks to me when I shift in my seat. “How many dead bodies cross your path every day, huh? Why do you care so fucking much about Belle?”
“Why do you?” She challenges me right back. “The life you lead, that your family leads. Thehundredsof deaths at your hands. Why do you care about Belle when you’re likely responsible for the deaths of ten girls like her?”
“My family and I are upstanding citizens,” I grit out, reciting lines taught to me from a young age. “Andsomeof us go out of our way to do good and help people. Plus, she’s family. I take care of my friends. Family loyalty is theonlything you can trust in this world. Certainly not the fucking cops.”
“So family loyalty drives you to interfere with my investigation and attempt to intimidate my witnesses?”
“We both know your investigation is going nowhere.” I slump back and smirk. “Belle’s killer will get what’s coming to him.”
“Killing him won’t bring him to justice,” she replies sharply. “The only way to get closure for her family is to do this properly. By the book. Don’t you see?” Her grip on her own hands tightens as she leans forward. “Let me do my job, Rocky. Let me find him and bring him in. Let him suffer behind bars where he belongs.”
Slowly, I lean forward, meeting her gaze as calmly as I can despite how her idealistic view of the law irritates me like a fever rash. “If I find him first,” I say slowly, “I will kill?—”
