Page 22 of Consumed By the Mafia

Instead he repeated what he’d told Cris, doing his best to include the things he vaguely remembered her saying. Something about wanting to ‘do the right thing’ and how she didn’t see the point. “She thinks sabotaging her mission will buy you time to tie up whatever loose ends they’re trying to exploit,” he added, “but I don’t know exactly what those loose ends are. I don’t even know how she knew my connection.” It wasn’t like he worked a day job at any of the De Salvo owned businesses.

Cris folded his arms across his chest. “Maybe our rat’s been talking to more than one group.”

Dante’s face was unreadable as he studied Ryoma.

Silence hung in the room for several long seconds.

Ryoma willed himself to hold still. There was only so much he could offer. He’d met a woman at a bar, become infatuated, and while he’d peeked at her license and passed her information as he knew it along to Cris, he probably could have done more legwork. He saw that in hindsight. Arguingthat he wasn’t behaving any differently than either of the men currently grilling him was less than ineffective. None of their women had proven to be a threat. Felicity had shared blood with the enemy, as had Mikey’s new bride, but both women had themselves been distant at best from their families. Ryoma understood that.

He also understood that Abby was different. She’d chosen to align herself with the people bearing down on all of them, endangering their family as a whole. If the FBI succeeded, every adult of the De Salvo family and at least most of their employees would go away. In many cases for life. She was, essentially, threatening to orphan the newborn Vittorio, soon-to-be eight-year-old Lucia, and even Grace’s unborn daughter.

Killing a federal agent who was actively investigating them would be a much more difficult task to cover up, but there was no way the Dragon would make a different choice. Not with his family’s future on the line.

If Ryoma thought he could talk Abby into quitting, into swinging for the other side after all the years of effort she’d invested, he’d suggest it in a heartbeat. But she hadn’t said anything to indicate that option. She’d only offered to give them some time and recuse herself.

“Where is she now?” Dante asked, finally breaking the silence without any other indication.

“Cleaning up from the accident,” Ryoma replied. He tipped his head toward the hall.

Dante made a flicking gesture. “Go get her. If I decide to let her live, she can finish later. Don’t do anything stupid.”

If…?Ryomalocked his jaw and bowed at the shoulders. “Ryokai.”

It was a test, he was sure. Would he do as he was told and walk her back into the room, would he push the boundaries and try to steal another moment with her first, or would he choose her completely and betray the family he’d found? Even as he strode down the hall, Ryoma acknowledged there was still a part of him that wanted to choose her. At least if it meant saving her.

If it didn’t have to mean forsaking Cris, Felicity, and the little children who would be so lost in the end. Maybe then he could do it.

But it does.He needed to remember that. He was a soldier. A tool. Tools didn’t get asked their wants and desires, or whether it hurt sometimes to be wielded. They were either useful and kept around or they were discarded. All he could hope was to stand as a shield for those who had provided him a purpose when he’d had none.

He paused at the threshold of the bedroom door, fingers on the knob. Whatever was said between them in the next few minutes, presuming he was allowed to live through this mess, he could never make a mistake like this again.

Abby had to be his last.

He wasn’t prepared to see her perched on the foot of the bed, drowning in oversized men’s clothes with her arms wrapped around her knees and fresh tear stains smeared across her cheeks. Her hair had been retied into a bun, and though it mostly looked dry, steam still wafted out of the adjoiningbathroom. She couldn’t have been out of the shower for more than a couple minutes. She hadn’t wasted any time. That was smart.

She blinked bleary eyes up at him, her expression sad. Resigned. “It’s time?” Her voice was choked and echoed the dull look in her eyes.

Ryoma grunted and strode up to her, pulling her to her feet with his hands on her arms. He hauled her straight up, into his chest. “What the fuck were you thinking?”

Her eyelids drooped. “I guess I wasn’t.”

He exhaled harshly and moved a hand to tip her chin up. “No, you weren’t. You aren’t cut out for this kind of assignment, baby girl.” He swept his thumb through the tear tracks on one cheek. They shouldn’t even be talking. “Come on. I can’t save you this time. All you can do for yourself is speak honestly, and curtail any sarcastic urges.” He took her hand and turned for the door without waiting for her response.

“Speak?” she repeated, following him without resistance. “He’s not just going to … shoot me, or whatever?”

“I can’t say what’s about to happen.” He also couldn’t warn her. Not more than he had.

She lowered her voice as they traveled down the hall. “I’m sorry, Ryoma. I put you in a bad position and I just want you to know, I am sorry for that.”

His hand tightened around hers. “I don’t want your fucking apology, Abigail. You’re sorry? Then fucking prove it. Don’t just wallow in your guilt or sit back and let what happens happen. Open those beautiful eyes of yours and recognize that you aren’t just threatening a few grown men. You’re talking about destroying the lives of actual innocent people, ofdozensor more people who never did anything other than accept help. Kinda like you did today when you called me.” He stopped walking and angled around enough to scowl down into her widened eyes. “Did you set out to rip apart families? Orphan children, dump elders into overcrowded and underfunded nursing homes? Because that’s thesimplestpart of what’ll happen if your mission succeeds, with or without you. So don’t give me ‘sorry.’ Sorry doesn’t fix fucking shit. I don’t have anyone. You could kill me and it won’t make a goddamn difference. But I’m the rare case, do you understand?”

Her mouth opened, but she didn’t really look like she was going to say anything. She looked stunned. Possibly even horrified.

“Ryoma!” Cristiano’s bellow startled Ryoma into whipping forward, making him realize they were closer to their destination than he’d noticed. “Get your ass in here.”

Fuck.

He resumed his trek forward, Abby in tow. He couldn’t say he was surprised when she tensed, finally offering likely instinctive resistance at the sight of Dante sitting back in the armchair on the far side of the room. Still, Ryoma dragged her several more feet into the room before letting go.

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