Page 65 of A Taste Of Darkness

A huff left me involuntarily, but I was kind of glad that the way he punched me was just as painful as before.

“Shit, you got some muscles there, kid,” he said in Italian, shaking out his hand, to which I laughed. Not for long because Mario’s face turned dark all of a sudden; his expression screaming that I was in trouble. “I thought you were dead!”

“A lot of people like to think that, yet here I am.” My arms opened as if to show myself off.

Mario slid a hand down his face, sighing. “Please tell me your family knows you’re alive, kid.”

“Oh, they definitely know.” Now anyway.

“They had a funeral for you.” They did? I didn’t know that. That seemed awfully ironic, especially when they still sent Arlo from country to country to find me. “The news was filled with your disappearance for at least a whole year. I think they broke some sort of record with deaths that year too. So many people died because you ran away.”

Figured that was going to happen, and I made peace with it. Desperate times called for desperate measures.

“Your padre was shooting people from left to right, so I heard. If he finds out you’re here and I didn’t say anything, do you know what will happen to me, kiddo? They’re your family. It doesn’t matter that you disappeared, you can always go back and they’ll accept it.”

That wasn’t true. Sure, I was lucky that I knew very well that my father didn’t want my brothers to take over, so even though I fucked up big time by running away, he wouldn’t harm me. If I was one of my brothers, they would’ve killed me years ago for not being loyal to them.

Still, I shrugged and decided we had talked enough about my family. I was here for a reason. “Can you shut down the range?”

Mario shook his head immediately. “What, are you out of your mind?”

“Mario.”

“This is my life, boy. If I don’t open, I don’t make money. How am I supposed to make ends meet that way?” Now he was pacing.

Mario wasn’t stupid. While I was very obviously not part of my family anymore, or at least I tried not to be, it was still inside of me. I could run away from the mafia, but the mafia would never leave me.

Once upon a time, I would’ve killed him for saying no. Now I was more patient, but he still knew that I wasn’t to fuck around with. If I wanted something, I’d get it.

As I cocked my head, Mario froze in place.

“I’m pretty sure you wanted to take a vacation day,” I said. “A paid vacation day, Mario.”

“You’re a good kid, Luca”—I sucked in a sharp breath at the mention of my old name. I kept forgetting that nobody here knew I changed my name—“or as good as a kid like you could ever be. But this place is all I have. If you mess it up…”

“Then close it for the day. I’ll pay you enough.”

His eyebrows drew together. “You never asked me to do that before.”

My eyes rolled. “I can’t be seen here, Mario. Nobody can see me here. I put each of your customers in danger by being here at the same time as them. If my family shows up, this place will be gone, and you know that. The more witnesses, the more likely it is that they will blow up this place. Do you want that?”

He shook his head, then sighed. “Fine. I’ll shut down for today.”

That’s what I thought.

33

PERFECT AIM

Sterlie Adams

I hated the earmuffs less than I did the safety goggles. They were so unstylish and ruined my entire outfit.

Milo already thought it was hilarious that I wore a pink dress to a shooting range, now he’d laugh at me in a pink dress and stupid safety goggles and earmuffs. At least they were pink; Milo brought them from his place.

Well, he probably sent one of his security guys shopping for them, but the gesture was adorable either way.

“Hold the gun in your dominant hand,” Milo said, which I did immediately.

---