Page 15 of Last Shot

‘You can’t hate all women forever because of Sophie.’

Woah. ‘I don’thatewomen.’ Best not to mention the one he had locked up in his house.

‘Frankie and I don’t count.’

‘I’ve never thought of you as a woman.’

A necessary right-hook in their verbal spar but also kind of true. Maybe it’s because they grew up together and he’d watched her stuffspirelliup her nose and competed in farting competitions with her and her brothers.

‘I’m starting to worry you’re like that ghost onAmerican Horror Storyand you can’t leave the property because you actually died a long time ago and you’re bound here forever.’

Grey made a sound that he thought was a non-committal grunt, but Nella’s knowing glare suggested it had landed otherwise.

‘If you didn’t look like you were thinking about all the different ways to stab someone all the time, you’d be semi decent-looking. Women like you, Grey, I’ve seen it.’

Sure. Women liked him because he was the closest they could get to the Barbaranis.

‘Not everyone’s like her,’ Nella said when he didn’t respond.

Not everyone. But Sophie had shown him his weakness – and he wasn’t in the business of owning a weakness.

‘It’s all because of the patriarchy,’ Nella said, just as Grey was about to switch lanes and try to ask about a possible murder threat without actually asking about a possible murder threat.

‘Sophie wrote that article about your family because of the patriarchy?’

‘Being beautiful screws women up,’ Nella said.

One more level of stairs, then Grey’s opportunity to throw murder casually into this train wreck of a conversation would be lost.

Nella was probably right but Grey had made his decision. ‘Not every grenade’s going to detonate,’ he said. ‘But if you don’t act like all of them are going to, you’re dead.’

‘My mistake,’ Nella said as they reached the enormous door to the sala da pranzo. ‘The problem’s not your permanent “I’m about to behead you” face, it’s you calling womengrenades.’

My problem is the convict I’ve just let loose in my home.

And a potential assassination.

‘Nella, have you heard—’

‘It’s allmerda!’

‘Did he saymurder?’ Grey hissed as Giovanni’s voice reverberated through the door.

‘Merdameans “shit”. They’re talking about the poisonings.Allegedpoisonings.’ But Nella’s mouth remained tight.

Could the poisonings Grey read about last night be connected to whatever Max thought she knew about Kaine Skinner and a murder?

No. She’s a criminal.

‘This gets shut down, today!’

Nella winced at the fierceness of her father’s conviction. Grey’s hand remained on the door handle, waiting for the aftershock to settle before he went in with medical aid.

Tomaso Barbarani’s voice came next. ‘Do you want me to recall the batch, signore?’

‘Suck hole,’ Nella muttered.

‘Idiota.’

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