Page 101 of Don't Let Go

Rory gestures with her hand as if dismissing Paolo like a fly annoying her. “Then there was talk I was being spotted, umm… considered for a position within thefamilysince they saw me with Paolo a few times. I had to find my way out faster than I thought, but then everything blew up in my face.”

She sighed and ran her hand through her hair. “Your parents weren’t in the mob, but they were associated with it. The mob’s money helped your papà win his senate seat. Your papà didn’tsign certain things, and he wasn’t taking any more money for reelection or his upcoming run for president. There was a guy at that meeting who was held responsible for poisoning your mamma and killing your papà without orders. But he didn't explain why.”

“My parents would have never taken dirty money. Are you sure?” I pulled on my earlobe. “What did this guy look like?”

Rory stared at me with dark eyes. Without blinking or looking away, she said, “Yes. I might not have followed politics, but I did know mob money bought the senate race. Who was bought off, I didn’t know or care about at the time.” She sighed, spinning the ring around her ring. “As for that guy, he was tall but not super tall and had on a wrinkled blue blazer. He seemed like a business guy by his short haircut. I could see him involved in politics by the way he spoke.”

“Wait, that sounds like Jacob. My dad’s PR guy.” My gut twisted into a double knot, and my throat tightened. “Was he wearing gold glasses?”

She shook her head. “He had a hood on, so if he had glasses, they took them. I believe he was squinting. The name Jacob does sound familiar.”

I jammed my fingers into my eyes, rubbing too hard while trying to absorb what Rory was telling me. “Let me get this straight. My parents took dirty money and Jacob murdered them in cold blood? The guy who has been in my life for years and organized their funerals?”

Rory nodded. “I don’t have all the facts, but yes. I believe so.”

My head spun with her stories and all the directions they had taken. I leaned against the wall next to Rory. There was no way I could wrap my head around what happened to my parents or how deep Rory was within the mafia. “If Paolo is the grandson of the mob boss, what does that make his cousin?”

Rory hung her head and said, “Vincenzo is the boss’s nephew. He came here from Italy with his brother.”

I let out a low whistle.

Damn, Rory is screwed.

The back of my throat burned as I asked my next question. “Do… do you know how my old man died? What did the report say?”

Rory stood and placed a hand on my shoulder. Her evergreen eyes bore into mine. “That guy… umm… Jacob said he poisoned your papà’s steak with blowfish and, once he was unconscious, took the fish out to make it appear he ate the fish. The report says your papà died from blowfish toxin, but what’s left out is he didn’t eat a bite of the actual fish.”

I placed my hands on her hips and gingerly moved them toward her lower back. “How is Paolo involved in all this?”

Rory slid her hands off my shoulders onto my chest. “During that mob meeting, Jacob looked at Paolo like he controlled him. He refused to talk, and Paolo made sure of that by making a slicing motion across his throat. It’s not too farfetched to think Paolo gave the orders to kill your papà without the say-so of his grandfather.” She paused for a second, worrying her bottom lip. “I also think Paolo and his cousins are running their own show with the Mexican cartel with drugs and cars and undercutting the family.” Rory pushed my chest away, forcing distance between us.

I took a piece of Rory’s hair and curled it around my fingers. “Why would they undermine the mafia that their family is in charge of?”

Rory looked up at me through her long lashes. “My only guess is they want to prove they are capable of doing more without any help. I don’t know if it’s for themselves or what they want to prove to the higher-ups in Italy. As I said, these are all my opinions I’ve strung together.”

“That’s why he drove by your house. He thought you knew too much and he was angry you dumped him, and with me on the team, he had multiple targets.”

Rory hooked her fingers through my belt loops on my jeans. “Yes, and Lizzy got in the way.” Her voice caught at the mention of her sister. Rory pressed her forehead into my neck. “This is all my fault.”

I wrapped my arms around her. “No. You didn’t put that gun in his hand. A girl should be able to break up with her boyfriend without fear of retaliation.”

“Maybe in Scottsdale, but not here in South Phoenix when everyone you know is a part of organized crime in one way or another.” She sniffed as her arms snaked around me.

For a moment, we stood there hugging as people do at airports before going away for a long time.

“I’m afraid,” she whispered to my chest.

“Of what?”

She let go, but her lips were only a breath away from mine. “I’m afraid of myself. I never knew I could have so much rage and vengeance within me. Now I’m marked for death.”

“Eye for an eye, remember? I’m sure they won’t like what you’ve done, but you had a good reason. He took your sister. What I witnessed of Paolo, he’s a shitty person and had this coming.”

She let out a dry laugh. “Maybe, but you don’t know the mob. He’s blood, and I’m not.”

My thumb brushed along her jawline, and Rory leaned into my touch. I stroked her jaw again before cupping her face in my hand.

“You’re going to be okay,” I whispered, gently tracing my thumb along her lips.

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