Page 28 of His Tesoro

The girls looked at each other as if silently communicating before turning back to me. One said something in a hoarse whisper, but she wasn’t speaking English.

“What was that?”

The girl repeated her words, her voice growing stronger. It sounded like she was speaking an Eastern European language—Russian, possibly? For a second I considered calling Sofiya to see if she understood them, but I dismissed the idea. I needed to keep her separate from my life, my work. She might seem sweet and innocent, but I couldn’t trust her.

“I’ll be back,” I said, even though they couldn’t understand me, and returned to the living room.

“Well, this gives us some clarity on why the scum is trying to take control of my city,” I said to Romeo.

“You think it’s more than the two girls?”

“Yes.” I’d suspected Arben was dealing in the skin trade in Boston, but I’d stayed out of it—that was Irish territory. But now he was not only trying to take control of my city, he was preparing to bring in the skin trade.

My eyes flicked to the three pathetic men huddling together on the ground in front of us. “Congratulations, you three just became much more useful to me.” I took a step closer, savoring their whimpers of pain as their injuries pooled blood on the gray carpet.

“Who are you?” the man I’d shot in the knee spat out.

I crouched down in front of him. “I’m the one you’ll beg for death before the end.”

His face contorted with rage before he lashed out with a shout. A glint of steel came towards me. I jumped out of the way but wasn’t fast enough to fully avoid his knife slashing a shallow gash in my side. I barely felt it as blood dripped down my skin.

In one swift movement, I kicked the man’s injured knee, flipped him over on his stomach, and pinned him to the floor by putting the knife through his hand. I brushed off my jacket as I stood and looked at the two other soldiers. “Are either of you feeling brave? Now’s your chance to attack.”

Their eyes were wide as they shook their heads, stealing covert glances at their wailing companion.

“Good choice. Where is the handcuff key?”

One soldier gestured at the man I’d stabbed. I reached into his pocket and fished out the key, making sure to grind his knee against the floor as I did.

I turned to Romeo. “Call Domenico and Stefano to take out the trash.”

I returned to the back room, crouching down again as I approached the girls. The younger of the two had tears streaking down her cheeks, but both remained silent.

I held out the key and pointed at the cuffs. “I’m going to remove these.” They seemed to understand what I meant, staying still as I unlocked them. I let out a loud curse when I saw the bloody red marks left by the metal, causing them both to jump.

I reached deep inside myself to the soft voice I used to use with Sienna when she was younger, when I would wake in the middle of the night to find her curled up on the floor by my bed after having a bad dream. Before my heart had turned cold.

“I’m not going to hurt you.” I reached a hand out to them, but they cowered away. “That’s okay. I won’t touch you. Can you walk?”

I slowly stood and took a few steps to the door, gesturing at the girls to follow me. Their movements were stiff as they got up. They clutched each other’s hands and hobbled to the door.

“They’re on their way,” Romeo said when the three of us entered the living room. He’d hogtied the Albanian soldiers on the ground and bound their bullet wounds to prevent them from bleeding out. I wanted them alive for a good, long time. “Where do you want to bring the girls?”

I ran my hand through my hair and gestured for the two girls to sit down at the lopsided kitchen table. I got them water and found packages of crackers in one of the cupboards.

“I’ll ask Aria if they can stay in a clinic room until we figure shit out.”

Aria was my cousin on my mother’s side. She’d been allowed to attend medical school, rare for Family daughters even now, and she ran our private clinic.

The girls gulped the water, their eyes fixed on their three captors. I leaned against the kitchen countertop, wondering what Sofiya was doing. I felt the strange urge to check on her, but it was late. She was probably in bed, and Enzo was stationed at the apartment, anyway.

Romeo pulled out his phone and nodded at me. “They’re here.”

I gestured for the girls to follow. Romeo went out the front first, signaling when all was clear. Stefano and Domenico passed us on the way to the car, and I lifted my chin at them. I would meet them in the basement after we got the girls to the clinic.

The Albanians could wait. They would wish I’d stayed away by the end.

16

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