Page 72 of Daddies' Little Spitfire

Richard shouldn't have been there on the street. He wasn't alive and yet he looked so alive. His eyes held life in them and the smile.

Too real.

But it couldn't be real because she had watched the life drain from his eyes in Miles' office. She remembered staring into his dead eyes as Miles and Rogan ran into the room.

He was dead.

There was no way he was alive. Maybe in her dreams, but not in real life. There was no way it was possible.

Hedda still remembered when Miles and Rogan told her that Richard was dead. They made sure he was dead and told her.

Not that she didn't know, but they wanted to make sure.

Which meant her brain was playing tricks on her or she was dying . There wasn't any other explanation out there.

Nothing else made sense because he couldn't come back from the dead. It was impossible.

Hedda zoned out as she thought about everything. Her eyes started to get blurry and she knew she was close to breaking down.

Crying is showing weakness. We never do that in this family.

Rogan's voice showed up in her head. Hedda was normally good at keeping it out, but not this time.

He had told her over and over again that crying was for the weak. That they didn't cry because their enemies could use it against them.

Oliver and Leo weren't her enemies, but they could tell someone about it. She didn't want it getting back to her brother.

She didn't know how it would happen, but she didn't know if he had any of his other men in Springfield.

Hedda didn't know everyonein the Ricci Crime Family. There were too many to count, but she knew all the people in the close circle. Those people were over at Rogan's house all the time.

There wasn't a time when his house wasn't full with some of his men. She had grown up like that. When her dad was the Don, it was the same way.

Knock. Knock.

Hedda didn't register the knocking on the door until a shadow loomed over her. She looked up and saw a large muscular person standing above her.

Her eyes went wide and she started to scream.

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

HEDDA

Hedda's breathing started to pick up as the man walked towards her. Shit. This wasn't good.

"Please," she begged as she pushed herself up against the wall.

There was no where for her to go. He was blocking her way towards the bathroom and the entrance.

Her lungs started to constrict as she continued to breathe heavier. Everything felt like it was going in slow motion.

"Please," she begged again as the man took another step towards her.

She pushed herself further against the wall. There was no escape and she didn't know who this man was.

"You're okay," the man whispered but it sounded so far away. Almost like she was under water and going deeper and deeper.

The voice was familiar, but her brain didn't register it.

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