Page 45 of Sardonic Burn

My brows crease. “You mean, just like me?”

He nods, reluctantly. “Yes. I don’t think they will target someone of your caliber, but you can never be too careful.”

I swallow the knot that forms in my throat. “Continue, please.”

Lucas grabs my shaky hand from across the table and starts stroking a pattern on the back of my palm. It manages to soothe my anger, but not entirely. This kind of anger is not something that anyone will ever be able to make disappear.

“The women were all in their mid-twenties to early thirties. Around Christmas time, one by one, they started showing up dead. They were all strangled to death, had been raped before death, and they were all marked. A small skull was found on the back of their necks.”

“Like a tattoo?”

“Like a metal rod with the symbol on the tip. It was heated with fire before it was burned into their flesh.”

I remain silent for a moment. Someone has been doing this under my nose for months, and I only got wind of it because my family was being threatened. A sense of failure fills me, and I can barely breathe.

“Wait.” I narrow my eyes. “You said it started around Christmas?”

“Yes.”

“That’s when all the attacks on me started. So they used my aunt’s murder to divert attention away from them, then used the same tactic with all of the assassination attempts. It’s safe to assume that they were the ones to send attackers, not Hudson’s family.”

Lucas is wary of the words that come out of his mouth next because he knows I’ll lose my temper if I don’t like it. “Then we can assume they also killed Luciella.”

I pause and straighten my back.

“No. Franco confessed to killing her.”

“Did he?”

Immediately, that night flashes in my mind. Like a broken record, it replays in my head on repeat. I remember all of his words clearly, as if he were speaking to me right now.

Terror fills my body, and my eyes widen. Anxiety like I’ve never felt before starts to surface, and it takes me a while to regain my composure. I don’t realize it immediately, but a lone tear slides down my cheek as I blink.

“No,” I whisper. “He never actually said it.”

Lucas grimaces. “Yikes. I know you hate them, but that means it was unprovoked for you to kill him.”

I take a deep breath.

“Listen to me,” I warn, and he’s quick to hear the threat. “As far as everyone else is concerned, Franco De Santis killed Luciella Campbell and confessed before his death. This conversation never happened. Do you understand me?”

Lucas nods furiously. “Understood, Noah. You know that this will stay between us.”

“Good.” A sigh of relief slips from my lips, and I lean back in my chair.

“What are you going to do about the trafficking ring?”

“I’ll visit the bullet maker. He’s bound to know something.”

“You’ll have to act quickly.”

“I know.”

THIRTEEN

Noelle Campbell is the fucking bane of my existence.

And it doesn’t help that I’m in a pissy mood because of the fucking bullets I took. My best guess is that the Italian chick, Silvia or whatever her name is, patched me up.

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