Page 20 of Corrupted Heart

He smiles quietly. “Yes.” He turns to nod his chin at the bodies. “Let me guess, former Carveli soldiers?”

I nod.

With the Carveli family now leaderless and in shambles, the whole organization is slowly breaking apart. And as that happens, there’s been more and more foulness concerning that family emerging from the shadows. Foulness like this shit.

The five major Italian mafia families in the States have a sort of “United Nations”-style agreement between them. Not a treaty or anything—more like a code of conduct that allows all ships to rise with the tide without infighting and bickering.

One of the hard and fast rules they set up was a ban on prostitution and trafficking. Say what you will about the Italian Mob, at least they don’t pimp girls anymore.

Or rather, they’re not supposed to.

Except it turns out there were a few little groups of people within the Carveli family who were. And I’m damned sure Massimo Carveli himself was getting kickbacks from it. Now that the whole organization is shattering into little fiefdoms, some of those groups are trying to make a go of it on their own. Groups like these dead assholes, or the two fucks I killed the other night.

The ones who tried to attack her.

I’ll be watching you, prinkípissa.

It wasn’t a threat.

It was a promise. And I never, ever break a promise.

I clear my throat and nod at Lukas. “Yep.”

“Same as the two assholes who got their throats cut way out in Brooklyn the other night?

I raise an eyebrow at him. He arches one back.

“Not like I don’t recognize your handiwork at this point, Kratos.”

I sniff. “I’m sure I have no idea what you’re referring to.”

He shakes his head, looking away. “Look, I know you’ve got this whole lone wolf thing going on. But if you ever change your mind?—”

“Something you might not know about me, Lukas,” I growl, “is that I’m a stubborn bastard. The day I change my mind, you can go ahead and bring ice skates to hell.”

He nods, a small smirk on his lips.

“Your people got this from here?”

He nods.

“Then that’s my cue.”

I turn and walk back toward the shadows.

“The house always wins, Kratos,” Lukas calls after me.

“Then I guess I’ll just have to be the house, won’t I?” I toss over my shoulder before I disappear into the darkness.

I’ve got somewhere else to be.

Other shadows to stalk.

Someone else to be watching over.

Like I said: a promise is a promise. And I never break a promise.

5

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