Page 70 of The Mafia Assassin's Redemption
“Me. I’m aware. I don’t know what that was, but we’re not going home.”
“Are you going to hand me over to someone?” Her voice is high and wobbly with apprehension.
I slant her a look. “Where the fuck did that come from? Why in the living hell would I go through a blood wedding to just hand you over to someone? And who the fuck would that someone even be?”
“Whoever got you to kill my parents.”
I grip the wheel tight and grit my teeth before letting out a sharp sigh. “You think I killed them? That I was the one who put the bullet in your father after—” I stop myself from saying torturing him. Maybe she didn’t see that part, or maybe she blocked it all out. I don’t need to dredge up those horrors for her. “Harry, I was there to save you all and I didn’t. I fucking failed you and your parents.”
“No,” she says, a stubborn edge to her voice. “You killed them.”
My shoulders slump forward. I’m not going to change her mind, even if it’s with the truth. She’s built up this hatred of me. Maybe it’s easier for her to hang on to it.Maybe she doesn’t know what she’ll feel if it turns out I’m not the monster haunting her dreams.
Suddenly I’m fucking tired. And technically, she’s right. I may not have fired the bullets, but I didn’t do my job, which is what got them killed. “Think what you want.”
One good thing has come out of this whole shit show. I’m now stone-cold sober.
“Why can’t I see my uncle?”
“I’m here to keep you safe, Harry.”
“Great job,” she mutters.
“Safe until I snap and kill you myself,” I bite out. “But until then, I don’t want you to get hurt. There are only so many times I can go on a killing spree before I really get pissed.”
She flinches. “He’s my uncle, he’s not going to hurt me.”
Curious, I ask, “Do you know that for sure?”
“Yes.”
It makes sense, but I don’t trust outside my family.
From what Anthony told me, they weren’t ever close. He didn’t want to be part of the mafia world, probably because investing was more lucrative. But then Harry came to him in her late teens. And he didn’t turn her away. Was it out of family loyalty or something else?
“Did you know he handles money for certain mafia families?” I ask. “Some of them are fucking nasty. One of them is a member of the Ricci clan.”
“He’s a merchant banker, so?—”
“What Anthony does is illegal and he launders big money in ways that makes them even more illegal. He’s hip deep in in the shit he claims he never wanted to get involved in.”
Funny, I thought I’d experience some satisfaction about dropping this bomb, but when I see her face fall out of the corner of my eye, all I feel isdeflated and in need of a scrub down.
“I didn’t know that,” Harry murmurs. “But it’s not my business, and it has nothing to do with me.”
“It’s everything to do with you. He claims?—”
“Wait, you confronted him?” Outrage raises her voice.
“He claims that his criminal clients don’t ask questions if they’re making money. So that, at least, helps keep you safe. And he also swears the world thinks you’re his illegitimate kid,” I say, pulling up to the curb near the pier. “He said that seemed to be the easiest explanation. He also says he doesn’t know why your parents tried to get out of the mafia’s world, but…” I stop, a sigh expelling from my lips.
“So, you don’t trust him.”
I get out of the car without answering. My eyes dart up and down the desolate street. I don’t see any threats, so I slide my gun into the waistband of my pants. We made it here without being followed and I seriously doubt anyone’s waiting down here on the off chance I’ll visit my boatMildred. If they even know about her.
I head to her side of the car and open the door. She takes my outreached hand and lets me help her out. I lean in and grab a piece of mail, then pocket it.
She gasps. “You can’t steal mail.”
