LOGINI memorized every word, nodding. "Make sure, there is no alcohol, no driving, no strenuous exercise. No situations where she could hit her head again." He tapped the folder. "If she vomits repeatedly. If she becomes difficult to wake. If one pupil becomes larger than the other. If she becomes co
Vincenzo watched them carefully, "You wanted this?" "No." "You wanted to spend your nights around men like Cole?" "No." "You wanted debt collectors, guns, blood, and basements?" All three shook their heads harder, "No..." "No, sir..." "We never wanted this..." For a long moment, Vincenzo sim
Mine didn't. To me, guilt belonged to the individual responsible for the act. To Gianna, guilt spread through grief until it touched everyone left standing. Eventually... It would reach me. She wouldn't see a calculated investigation. She would see the man who allowed her entire world to disap
Adriano let out a laugh, he bent over, slapping his knee, his eyes bright with a dark, twisted amusement as he watched Cole flop around in the dirt. "Oh, look at him go!" Adriano mocked, "He’s doing the dance! Look at the moves on him! Hey, Don Capone said he’d spare your life, Mercer! He didn't sa
"No! She forced me! She—" "She forced you to get a front-row seat to our sister's blood?" Adriano laughed again, "You’re a real hero, Cole. Maybe we should put your face on a plaque. 'Here lies Cole Mercer: He was too scared to be a criminal and too stupid to be a friend.'" Cole started to sob, hi
Raphael ━━ ⛓ ━━ Adriano’s arms were capable, but they were not mine. I stepped forward before his arms could even settle into a permanent hold. I took her from him, sliding my hands beneath her knees and behind her shoulders, careful not to disturb the bandage wrapped around her head. I kept h
I stared at him. Mom laughed harder, "Salvatore!" "What?" he asked innocently. "You think I'd sit quietly while some stranger informed me what I can and cannot do for four hours?" I watched the familiar exchange, the bickering, the teasing. The easy comfort between them, it felt normal. For a fe
"Is everything alright?" I asked, "When you interrupt a meeting without warning," I said quietly, "I generally assume somebody has been shot." That finally earned a reaction. The corner of Vincenzo's mouth moved just enough to almost become a smile. He kept looking out across the city, "No, no eme
──━⊰ 𓆙 ⊱━── The encrypted file was buried deep within three layers of security firewalls on my private server. I didn't need to look at the folder name to find it, my fingers moved across the keyboard on pure instinct, unlocking the video data that I had kept hidden from the rest of the world. I
Raphael ━━ ⛓ ━━ Six monitors cast a cold blue glow across the room. Lines of code crawled across two screens. Financial records occupied another. Security feeds filled a fourth. The remaining monitors displayed data I had been collecting for the last three hours. My fingers moved across the key







