Page 115 of Veil of Obsession
I tighten my grip.
Wait.
Then…I move.
The door swings open, and I’m already in motion, throwing my full weight forward. The blade in my hand buries deep into flesh—resistance, then give. A strangled sound tears from his throat as we crash to the ground. I’m on top of him, straddling, twisting the blade just enough to make him scream.
His elbow slams into my ribs. Pain lances through me, but I don’t loosen my grip.
“Fuck—”
He flips us over in a surge of power. My back hits the hardwood, the breath knocked from my lungs. I scramble to my knees, knife still in hand.
Emiliano clutches his side, eyes wild, blood blooming through his tailored shirt. “Are youinsane?”
“You’re in my house,” I snap. “With your gun drawn. I could askyouthe same.”
“I wasn’t going to shoot unless?—”
“Unless what?” I spit. “Unless you found me? Unless I breathed wrong?”
He glares, breathing hard. “You stabbed me.”
“You’re lucky that’s all I did.”
We freeze there, staring. He doesn’t reach for his gun. He knows I’ll kill him before he can.
“Romiro’s checking the other rooms,” he warns, voice low and lethal.
“Then you’d better tell him not to open that door.”
He laughs. It’s bitter. Bloody. “What the hell do you think you’re doing, girl?”
“Making sure Lucio still has something to come home to.”
His expression darkens at Lucio’s name. I see it: that glimmer of hate, of pain, of something more complicated than he’s ready to admit.
“You’re going to leave,” I say. “Right now. And you’re going to pretend you didn’t see me.”
“And if I don’t?”
I take a breath. Drop my voice to a razor’s edge. “Then your dirty little deal with the Outfit becomes everyone’s business.”
His whole body goes still.
There it is.
“I don’t know what you think you’ve heard?—”
“I know enough,” I cut in. “I know about the agreement. About you promising to stay out of the Moretti kids’ fight forpower in exchange for keeping Valentina and your daughter off Chicago’s radar.”
He doesn’t deny it. Not even a flicker.
“You’ve been cutting back-channel deals with the Outfit to keep your family safe while your brothers bleed for yours. You think no one knows, but peoplealwaysknow. And if you kill me here, my contact sends that file to every Underboss on the East Coast.”
He’s bleeding. Furious. Calculating.
“And what do you want?” he asks, voice hollow.
