Page 185 of Rosetti Family New York
I give her what she's asking for.
“I found out who Maddy was dating.”
She freezes, breath caught in her throat. I don’t think she’s even blinking.
“Don’t you dare stop talking now, Rosetti.”
“Ethan Reyes,” I say, letting his name hang heavy in the air.
Her breath rushes out in a loud, uneven gasp. The apartment feels even smaller, the walls closing in with the weight of what she’s just heard.
“Maddy never told me she was seeing anyone. Let alone a... a...”
She struggles for the word, like she can’t bring herself to say it.
“She might not have known much,” I tell her. “Reyes was keeping secrets.”
“How do you know?”
There’s a wild, desperate edge to her eyes. She’s teetering on some jagged hope, clinging to it like a lifeline.
“Because it’s my fucking job to know.”
There’s a beat of silence, then the heater knocking, the wind howling at the windows. Sloane looks at me, her mouth open like she’s about to speak, but nothing comes out. I can see the gears turning in her head.
“Ethan...” She says the name like it’s a foreign word she’s not sure she wants to learn. “He was with Callahan?”
“He’s in with the Red Hooks,” I say. “Does low-level shit for Callahan. Enough to make him dangerous.”
Sloane’s eyes grow wide, and the shock in them makes her look younger. She breathes out sudden and loud, staring at me like I’ve just thrown cold water on her.
“She was dating a gang member? An actual criminal?”
Her voice trembles. I can tell she’s not asking a question so much as trying to make sense of it. It’s the worst possible combination in her mind: Maddy and a criminal.
The words hit me like a punch, sharper than they should be.
I’m a fucking criminal, nothing wrong with that. Best job in the world.
But not one that belongs anywhere near Sloane, or near the life she thinks she wants.
“Yeah,” I manage to spit out, shifting my weight, uncrossing my arms.
She shakes her head slowly, like she can’t quite get it to sink in. Like repeating it a few times might make it make sense.
Her mouth works, no sound coming out.
“Ethan,” she finally says. “Ethan was the one who… who killed her?”
I push off the wall and cross to the sofa, sitting down beside her, but not touching.
“Don’t know,” I say. “But Reyes is the only link we’ve got between Maddy and the Callahans, so I’d say he’s a damn good place to start.”
She looks at me, a spark of determination on her face.
“Do you know where to find him?”
She’s on the edge of springing into action, damn the consequences. I almost want to tell her to slow down, but that’s not something I can do without tying my own hands.
