Page 11 of Deadly Sins: Greed

“Is Giovanni still alive?” I yelled into the phone. “Do you have him? I did what you asked. Tell me!”

“Well done, Miss Monroe. That will be all. See you tonight.”

The call disconnected.

And as I pulled the phone away from my ear, the familiar crack of gunfire pierced the afternoon air, the bullet drilling through Falcon’s forehead. He blinked once, and then collapsed.

Falcon was dead.

CHAPTER 6

Seconds later, after I’d crouched down, taking cover beside Daniela’s car, Salvadore and one of Angelo’s men reached down and grabbed me, lifting me to a standing position. Salvadore said, “You all right, Sloane?”

“I ...I don’t know,” I said.

I canvassed the parking lot. Spectators had started to gather, including hospital staff. In the distance I heard the whine of a police car.

Angelo’s man said, “Act natural, and follow me,” as if pretending nothing that occurred was even a remote possibility. With each breath, I fought the urge to panic, my body convulsing until I was on the verge of blacking out.

Salvadore placed a hand on my shoulder. “Sloane, you okay?”

“I don’t know. I don’t think so.”

Angelo’s man said, “Keep your head down and follow us.”

I hesitated. I didn’t know the identity of the shooter, and Angelo and his men made me uneasy. But one thing was certain—we needed to get out of the public eye. I followed them back to the hospital and into an office. A man with sparse, gray hair and thick glasses sat behind a desk, typing on a computer keyboard.

Angelo’s man said, “Doctor Gellar. We need your office. Now.”

The doctor stood without hesitation and walked out, closing the door behind him.

Angelo’s man turned toward me. “What happened?”

“I came out to get some air. Falcon followed. I thought he was keeping something from me about what happened to Giovanni. I pressed him about it, and we got into an argument. A gunshot went off, and I took cover.”

“What were you arguing about?” Salvadore asked.

“Like I said, I thought he was keeping something from me—from all of us—about what happened to Giovanni.”

“And was he?”

I stared the tall man in the eye and steadied my voice. At this point, Daniela was the only one I trusted. “I don’t know. I never got the chance to find out.”

“You shoot him?”

“Of course not. I just told you what happened.”

Angelo’s man exchanged glances with Salvadore, then said, “Show me your gun.”

“Whoa, now hold on,” Salvadore said. “That’s not necessary.”

“To me it is,” the man shot back.

I considered my words carefully. I’d never admitted to having a gun, but he was right in assuming I did. “Why do you need to see it? I just told you I didn’t shoot Falcon. Or Giovanni for that matter. I wasn’t even in the state when he was attacked. Ask Daniela.”

Lacking patience for banter, Angelo’s man grabbed me by one arm and frisked me with the other, ripping my pistol off my waist. He checked the chamber.

“Leave her alone,” Salvadore warned. “She didn’t do anything”

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