Page 186 of Syndicate of Sin Bundle

At a red light, Riccardo peered in the rearview mirror. “Do you want to talk about it?”

Riccardo wants to talk? He rarely even spoke two words to me.

I stayed quiet. When the light turned green, he gently hit the accelerator.

“When I took my first life, I was shaken up too,” he said.

I arched a brow and peeked into the mirror at him. “I … I didn’t kill anyone.”

“Oh.”

God, this is awkward.

“Not even Bethany?” he asked.

“No, Laila did.”

“Damn,” he said, a deep chuckle escaping his mouth. “About time.”

My lips curled into a small smile. I almost couldn’t believe that Riccardo—the man who seemed to hate me—had decided now was a time to be chatty. And while I didn’t want to laugh at someone dying a horrid death, we were talking about Bethany of all people.

Riccardo glanced into the rearview mirror, lips set in a soft smile when he saw me. “Bethany was a bitch, so don’t worry about it. She got what she deserved. This had been a long time coming. I’d thought Constantino would do it sooner.”

Warmth exploded through my chest. I sat back in my seat and looked out the window as we pulled up to the curb. Riccardo parked his car across the street from the coffee shop and then opened my door. I hopped out of the car and headed inside.

“Tea, please,” I said to the barista, sliding my card across the counter.

After paying for my drink, I stepped to the side.

Riccardo leaned against the counter with one forearm and peered over at me. “Two chocolate chip cookies,” he said to the young woman. “Warm them up for us.”

My lips curled into another soft smile. All this time, I’d thought that he hated me.

When the barista gave him the cookies, he handed me one. “Don’t tell anyone about this.”

67

sage

“You’re here early,” Poppy said, bobbing up the steps to the second floor of the coffee shop.

Riccardo grabbed his phone and his third cookie of the day, then walked to a table across the floor. He had been surprisingly nice to me so far today. I mean, I would hope that he would because I had literally witnessed someone get murdered right in front of my eyes. But still …

He was never nice.

“You know you don’t have to sit alone,” I called to him.

But he didn’t even look up at me. Back to being the cold, hardheaded asshole.

“You have to tell me all about your trip!” Poppy cheered, sipping on tea. “How was it?”

“Good,” I gushed, attempting to forget about last night. Think about all the good times I have had with them, not the cold-blooded murder that I witnessed. “We went to the coast of Italy for a week, and it was the most beautiful place that I have ever seen!”

“Oh my gosh, stop!” she said, eyes wide. “I’ve always wanted to go. Was the food good?”

“Amazing!”

“And the eye candy?”

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