Page 59 of Revenge & Ruin

“Wha’ tha fuh!” he gasps as he desperately tries to drag the woman off his back.

“What was it he said, Martino?” Mia has the audacity to not even be out of breath. “Stay in my lane?”

Martino chuckles lightly. “His mistake.”

Leon slowly begins to turn an uncomfortable shade of gray, and I can’t help but think that Mia would be perfectly happy letting the don choke to death between her legs.

“Enough,” I step in finally, and Mia thankfully obeys.

Leon’s breath bursts out of him with a sickening choke, and I courteously wait a moment for him to gather himself.

“I’m only going to say this once, Leon,” I begin, crouching down to observe his recovery. “You and I? We’re not on the same level. You don’t get to come into my territory and make demands. You sit, and you wait for me to grace you with my presence.”

“You b?—”

I cut him off. “You think your little Mafia will back you up? We both know that mine ismuchbigger than yours. So don’t give me another excuse to remove you from the face of the earth.”

Leon lets out an almighty roar as he launches himself at me, only to be pulled back a beat later by Martino and Mia.

I tut a little at the display. “You know I could make you an offer, if you really took such an issue with this place.”

“I’m not giving you my mother,” he growls back.

“Such a shame,” I sigh. “Well, I really have very little use for you. Martino, kindly show Mister Natali the window. I’d like him to enjoy the view on his way down.”

Martino and Mia manage to drag him a whole step before—in a display of annoyingly impressive strength—Leon manages to wrench himself free, throwing Mia into Martino in the process and sending them tumbling to the floor.

He doesn’t give me a second to reach out and stop him before he takes off to the staircase.

“You underestimate us, Vitale,” he yells over his shoulder. “It will be your downfall.”

16

ISABELLA

It feels counterintuitive to even indulge in the idea. But as I walk back to my apartment building, I can’t shake the feeling thatno oneis watching me.

After weeks of constantly looking over my shoulder, of noticing patterns in license plates parked outside my home or my favorite coffee spot. Even those darting movements in the corner of my eye if I turn around too quickly are gone.

All of it is gone.

And I should be very, very happy about this. Ecstatic even. If the Guild has finally backed down, that means that I actually start living my life again as normal, without looking over my shoulder every five minutes.

This is absolutely brilliant news.

Truly.

I can’t imagine anything better.

Except that means he’s not watching me anymore.

Before I go to bed, I look out my window at the street below. Cars stop and start along the road, pedestrians march, stumble, or amble on by.

None of them linger. one of them look up.

In a moment of insanity—to test a theory, I tell myself—I write a simple note and place it in my window.

“Are you still there?”

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