Page 86 of Hold Him Like Gravity

“Aside from it being the name of the meat shop, but not actually your last name?” she asked.

“Yeah, besides that.”

“No. Should it?”

“Lombardifamily?” I tried.

“Are they famous or something?” she asked, looking lost.

“Infamous, maybe,” I said. “Alright. Well, not to pile on to an already overwhelming night,” I said, gesturing for her to sit. She did, on the end of the coffee table, watching me with suspicious eyes. “The Lombardi family is a crime family.”

“A crime family?” she repeated. “Wait… like… like the mob?” she asked, brows scrunched.

“Yeah, exactly like that,” I agreed, watching her eyes as she processed the information. Then, she let out a little laugh. “What?” I asked.

“The guys at work,” she said, shaking her head. “They used to make these jokes aboutThe Sopranos. It never made any sense to me before. I… get it now. So, you’re, you know, in it? The mob?” she clarified.

“Yeah. Pretty high up, actually.”

“So the meat shop…”

“Launders mafia money,” I confirmed. “Which is probably why that shithead ex of yours thought you could get away with skimming. The money at the shop is… complicated. Not just, you know, matching the cash up to the receipts and shit like that. If I kept less precise books, it probably wouldn’t have gotten found out so soon,” I added.

“Rico, I’m so—“ she started.

“I know,” I cut her off. “I know you didn’t want to do it,” I said, thinking of that haunted, far-away look that she often had that had been bothering me.

“You’re… not mad at me?” she asked.

“I was,” I admitted. “Actually, that’s not even right. I wasn’t mad so much as…”

“Hurt,” she filled in when I couldn’t find the word.

“Yeah,” I agreed.

She nodded at that, blinking some fresh tears out of her eyes. Then her gaze fell, studying her shoes as she spoke again.

“Are you going to have to… kill me?” she asked.

Christ.

I mean, yeah, we were a notoriously ruthless family. But the men? We didn’t hurt women. That said, we were the only family that had female capos. And they didn’t have the same qualms about hurting or killing women that we did. So, yeah, some womenhaddied in the Lombardi name in the past.

But it bothered me that she thought I would do that to her. That I would becapablelet alone willing.

I moved across the room in a few quick strides, reaching out to grab her chin and force her to face me.

“No,” I said, voice firm. “I’m not going to have to kill you. I would never kill you. I wouldn’t put a hand on you.”

“But… your boss…”

“Will understand that you were a pawn,” I cut her off. “That the only people to blame are your ex and your brother. And maybe those shits who also robbed my place.”

“You’re going to kill them?” she asked, gaze surprisingly clear as she looked at me.

“I’m on the fence about Jake,” I admitted. “Since he’s your brother. But he can’t get away with this either. But that ex of yours? I’ll be happy to take him outta this world. For good this time,” I added with a smirk that had a strangled laugh escaping her.

“I stabbed him,” she admitted, watching me. If she was looking for a reaction of shock or horror, she wasn’t gonna get that from me. I’d stabbed people too. For a lot less. “In the throat and thigh,” she said. “Someone saw me at work after Kyle beat me,” she added. “He told me how to do it.”

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