Page 31 of King Of Order

I snagged the not-so-furtive sidle of a man across the walkway from her and froze.

She caught him in the window’s reflection and hurried back to her car.

I pursued, sucking my teeth, needing to wade in.

He hastened to keep up with her until I interrupted his run.

With a punishing grip, I pushed him into an alleyway.

Seconds later, he was out cold, crumpled on the ground.

I searched his pockets, found a phone, and pushed it into my pants for later perusal.

Also, a convenient excuse to have him tag his misfortune as a robbery.

After dragging him into a corner, I found an empty Chianti bottle in a rubbish bin and placed it in his hands.

Smirking, I lit out, heading after Chiara.

Shit was heating up.

Chapter 8

CHIARA

The hospital was a maze of sterile white walls and the ever-present hum of machines.

The bright lights gave me a headache, adding to my malaise from the night spent tossing and turning.

It had taken a long time to settle after escaping the strange man following me.

Add to that my encounter with Rio and his hard, wet mouth, his stroking hands, and those devious fingers.

Needless to say, I was rattled.

I’d woken to my phone ringing out.

As I walked in, I replayed the message from the head nurse left on my phone.

‘Miss Tirone, we advise you and your family members to stop by the medical center as your father’s health is taking a turn for the worse.’

Thus, my rush to his bedside.

Olivio’s room sat at the end of the corridor, away from the noise and bustle of the central ward.

When I stepped in, I struggled to recognize him.

Each day I came by, he faded away.

The man who had once been brawnier, wider, more prominent in size than most, and who in the past dominated every room he walked into now lay frail and shrunken in the hospital bed.

His skin clung to his bones, and his eyes were sunken into his skull. It was as if he had been drained of everything that made him once so lethal.

‘Ciao, papa,’ I murmured, pulling a chair beside him.

His eyes flickered open, and for a flash, there was a spark of recognition.

‘Chiara,’ he rasped, his voice a ghost of its former strength. ‘You came.’

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