Page 2 of Assassin's Obsession

I don't see Angelo again, but sometimes, I feel the constant tension in my spine relax and I realize he's in the club.

Watching.

I want to tell him thank you for what he did, but that makes me feel like a bad person. You shouldn't thank someone for skewering a man's hand, should you?

I definitely shouldn't get turned on thinking about it.

That's just wrong.

But no one has ever protected me like that. Mom would if she could, but with her arthritis, sometimes she can't get around without her chair or walker.

She's sure not throwing a guy up against a brick wall and stabbing him in the hand.

Chapter 1

The Summer Before Severu De Luca Becomes Godfather

ANGELO

I'm itchy under my skin.

I haven't seen Candi in four days and it's pissing me off.

Flicking my gaze up to the security camera in the corner of the holding cell where Miceli and I are interrogating the member of a gang foolish enough to encroach on our territory, I nod to myself. Yeah, that'll work.

A camera outside her door. Maybe one inside her apartment. Her mom is always home.

Which is not the obstacle some people think it is.

It's time I met my obsession's family, even if it's as the apartment building's new maintenance guy.

"What has you smiling, you psycho?" Miceli asks from the other side of our guest.

"None of your fucking business." I kick the dealer so eager to sell his shit on the streets of Manhattan. "Not this asshole."

All yelled out, thestronzogrunts in pain.

Miceli squats down beside him, grabs his hair and yanks his head up. "You are alive for one reason. You take a message to your homeboys. Stay the fuck off our streets. The next one of you we find in our territory, for any fucking reason, even if it's to visit your sick grandma, ends up in the soup."

Our enemies know what that means, but I spell it out for him anyway. "Once we dump your body in the soup, you don't exist. Not even as a trace of DNA to leave behind."

~ ~ ~

Pitiful Princess smells like booze, pussy, sweat and disinfectant when I walk in.

I haven't been here since Wednesday and rage rolls through me. I want to gouge out the eyes of every fucking asshole ogling my girl.

That would piss off the boss, though. Severu doesn't want undue attention brought to the family right now. More importantly, Candi would be upset.

The customers are safe as long as they don't touch her.

Like thestronzowho will never have full use of his left hand again. I would have cut it off, butshecame into the alley. Candi saw me playing with my prey, looked at me like I was a monster, and ran away.

I am a monster, but I'm not so depraved I will purposefully terrify the woman I plan to spend the rest of my life with.

If she found out later that I had cut the dick's hand off, she would never get past her fear of me. And that would make living together awkward.

So, I let him go.

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