Page 22 of Veil of Smoke

Dario kneels by the first man, checks his pulse. “He’s alive,” he mutters. “Barely.”

He wipes the knife on the man’s coat and slides it into his own.

Then he looks up. “You shouldn’t be out here alone.”

I glare at him. “I was taking out the trash.”

He glances at the back door of the shop, then back at me. “They weren’t here for the shop. They were here for you.”

“Why?” I ask, pushing off the wall. “What did I do?”

“You showed up,” he says.

“That’s it?”

“You walked into the wrong shadow. And now Corradino’s paying attention.”

I laugh again, bitter. “Then make him stop.”

He shakes his head. “It doesn’t work like that.”

I stalk toward him. “So what now? Do I disappear? Close the shop? Change my name?”

“You come with me,” he says, voice steady.

“No,” I snap. “I’m not yours to protect.”

“You are,” he says, “if they think you’re mine.”

The words hit too hard. I stare at him, chest rising too fast.

“Why do you care?” I whisper.

He pauses. “Because I don’t want to see you bleed again.”

“Then stop getting me involved,” I say.

“I didn’t drag you into this,” he replies. “Corradino did.”

“No,” I say, shaking my head. “I walked into that dock. I stayed too long. I didn’t run. That’s what did it.”

He takes a step forward, close enough that I can feel the warmth rolling off his chest.

“I didn’t mean for this to happen,” he says quietly.

I believe him.

“I’ve seen you kill, Dario,” I murmur. “Like it means nothing.”

“It means something,” he says.

“What?”

His mouth is a grim line. “It means I get to walk away. They don’t.”

I glance down at the blood on my boots.

“It keeps happening,” I whisper.

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