Page 30 of The Italian Reckoning
“What the fuck were you thinking?” he yells, standing over me and slamming his cane down a few inches away from my head. “One shot, Rocky. One fucking shot and our problems would be over!”
“They wouldn’t be over,” I say weakly, prodding gingerly at my teeth with the tip of my tongue while blood floods my mouth. “Killing a cop doesn’t stop our problems.”
“Killingthiscop does!” He slams his cane against the floor once more. “You interrupted an assassination that I ordered. Do you have any idea how weak that makes me look? It looks like I can’t control my own men, my own fuckingson.”
I learned from a young age not to get up until he stops yelling, so I lie there swallowing my own blood and staring up at him through a slight dizzy haze. “Dad, you need to stop caring so much about what people think. If you spoke to them, if youactually put yourself out there and gave people the answers, then you wouldn’t be in this position.”
“Don’t tell me what’s best.Iknow what’s fucking best. You don’t see what I see. You don’t see the sharks circling or the snakes in the grass with those fucking Irish bastards or the Ruskies.”
“They’re our friends?—”
“Competition!” He stomps his cane and turns away from me in disgust. “You grow too close to our enemies and now you save a cop? A fucking pig overmyorders?”
“Sarah saved my life.” Delicately, I pick myself up from the floor. “I owe her. It’s a debt I had to repay.”
“Off my back?” He spins to face me, the cane raised. “Do you want me to look weak? Powerless? Like I’m ripe for the picking? Do you want some greedy little fucker to slash my throat in my sleep?”
“Of course not!” It’s hard not to yell back, but every time he screams in my face, my spine bunches up like a spring. “Dad, this isn’t what you think! You’re paranoid after Noah, I get that?—”
“Don’t mention that fucker to me!”
“Sorry. But closing down like this hasn’t done anything for us! You see everyone as the enemy, you won’t even acknowledge that if you focused on our smaller families, Noah wouldn’t have happened, and now Gio is breaking and instead of us supporting him, you’re turning your back and sweeping it under the rug like it isn’t happening!”
I could dodge his fist the second time, but experience has taught me that he only gets worse. This blow doesn’t knock me to the ground, but I do stumble back as teeth rattle around my mouth.
“You listen here, Rocky, and you listen good. You have no idea what you are talking about. You spend all your time runningabout, never taking on any real responsibility, and I allow it because I promised your mother that I wouldn’t be too hard on you. But youwillshow me the respect I deserve and have earned, understand? Your loyalty is to me, do you hear me? Me and this family. Not the cops. Not the Irish. Not any other family.Me. And the only good cop is a paid cop. If they don’t accept it, then I want them dead! You have wasted more than enough time on Belle. I want this over!”
“Dad.” I can’t help but press him. Perhaps it’s in my nature to push back against him, but can I really call myself a decent person if I don’t at least try?
“No! I gave you an inch because Gio is your friend, and you took a fucking mile.”
“But these friendships keep us in power. It’s what smoothed over our alliance with the Irish and what made the Russians happy to help! Don’t you see? Killing Sarah will do nothing but bring the death of a policewoman to the top of every headline in the city.”
“She dies.” Anger blazes in my father’s eyes. “You defied me by saving her and now I look incapable. I will not let that happen again, you understand me? She dies and you will give up this foolish search. In fact, I’m sending you away.”
“What?”
“I need someone to oversee some trouble at the casino and it’s the perfect way to keep you out of my path. But if you fuck up again, Rocky? I won’t be so forgiving.”
12
SARAH
Ididn’t tell anyone that someone tried to kill me two days ago. Had I been in any other state, maybe any other precinct, then I would have thought about it. But here? The last thing I need is for the wrong person to report my reaction back to whoever was behind the attempt.
I bet it was Rocky. That smug fucker slipped out of interrogation with such a cocky smirk on his face, I wouldn’t be surprised if he was the one who pulled the trigger, trying to silence me either because of the investigation or because he’s a dick.
I shake him from my thoughts and once again try to focus on the files spread out across my desk. I’ve dug up everything I could find on The Painter without drawing any attention to what I was doing. Despite knowing almost every detail of this case by heart, I’m praying something I missed will jump out at me and all of this will make sense. A clue or a hint that The Painter had some kind of prodigy trying to recreate his work, or a detail that will suddenly spark the important, long-forgotten memories buried in my damaged mind.
Nothing jumps out at me. Without Gio to speak to and no warrant to force him, this is my only lead, the only way I can keep the case open and help Belle.
I stare until the words blur together and nothing makes sense. Then, when my eyes close, I rub hard at the bridge of my nose and sigh. In the darkness, my tired mind latches onto my one surprising source of comfort. My mysterious biker. He’s saved me twice now, like some kind of leather-clad angel watching over me. Instinct tells me to be suspicious, but in this one case, I’m choosing to ignore it.
I like him. I like how he makes me feel. How my heart flutters and my body heats up in ways I’ve not felt in a long time. Therapy would tell me that I’m creating an unhealthy bond with a savior figure due to the trauma in my past.
I’d tell therapy to go fuck itself after that parking lot kiss. It plays out perfectly in my mind with the bang of the gun, the shatter of glass, and the sudden warm press of his lips against mine. I melted like putty in his hands and I’d do it all over again.
“Parcel for you.” The thump of the parcel hitting the desk draws me out of my daydream and my cheeks warm as if the desk clerk was somehow privy to my sultry thoughts. I flash them a smile as they leave my office without looking back and quickly open the package with my letter opener.
