Page 30 of Black Widow's Kiss

“No. What does it feel like?” I asked intrigued.

“Like you’ve been shot.”

“But I was driving when I felt it.”

“How fast were you going?”

“You saw the wreck. Pretty fast.”

Lorenzo’s head bobbled considering it.

“There are other things.”

“Like what?”

“Like what you use to bring down a bear.”

“Like a tranquilizer gun.”

“Possibly. It would take a hell of a shot, though.”

“Who do we know that could make a shot like that?”

As soon as I asked, Lorenzo and I thought about the same person. I could tell by the way he looked at me. Matteo made a lot of impulsive decisions. But give him time and a sharpshooter rifle and what’s in his sights is the only thing that exists. Through an open window traveling at 40 miles an hour, the only one who could make that shot was my brother.

“We can figure that out later,” I said not wanting to say what we were both thinking.

“Yeah,” he agreed.

“So, if Kuroi isn’t tryin’ to kill me, how do I stop him from killing me?”

“Gather intel, assess the situation, and come up with a plan,” he suggested.

“Right. Who would have intel on Kuroi? Everyone who has known him best is dead.”

“Not everyone,” Lorenzo suggested telling me what I had to do next.

Keeping eyes on Yuki Sato wasn’t something the Ricci family often did. We knew of her. We had a general idea of how she spent her day. But considering she wasn’t Sato’s heir apparent, it wasn’t a priority.

Having said that, we knew where to find her on any given day if we had to. And now I had too. It being Thursday, she was most likely at the flower market. That made things simple.Because the two of us needed to have a conversation about her brother, and I knew how to find her.

Sitting at a coffee shop across the street from her favorite flower stand, I held up a newspaper and kept an eye out. My intel told me that she bought camellias in the winter and lilies in the summer. It was still lilies season and she would get them in white.

Like clockwork, she appeared. Even without the traditional garb she wore to social events, she was hard to miss. Put together perfectly in a sleeveless summer garden dress, she carried herself with the elegance I once imagined bringing honor to the Ricci family. Instead, I ended up with Kuroi. Sure, he was hot as hell. But he was more likely to get us into a war than Matteo was.

Quickly folding my paper and crossing the street, I approached Yuki.

“Yuki, can I talk to you a second.”

Instead of being startled, Yuki didn’t even look up.

“Mr. Ricci, it is pleasant to see you.”

“Pleasant to see you too. Listen, I was wondering if I could talk to you about Kuroi.”

That was when she turned around and stared at me.

“It would be improper to involve myself in my brother’s marriage.”

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