Page 18 of Veil of Obsession
Fuck! I run a hand through my hair, and my phone buzzes on my bedside table. When I pick it up, my eyes skim over the text.
Unknown
Hope you enjoyed my present. Check the note next to her. X
I scan the other side of the bed and spot a beige card, folded neatly and placed on the bedside table. Walking over there, I avoid the blood that’s pooled right beside the bed. I flick the note open, reading over the cursive writing.
You have such exquisite taste, but not everyone is worthy of your touch. Don’t worry, darling. I’ll make sure only the deserving remain.
Crumpling the note, I toss it back on the table and slide my phone out of my pocket to text Emiliano.
Me
I need you to come over to my place. It’s a code 19.
Code 19. Emergency. His reply comes back quickly.
Eli
This better be fucking important, asshole. I’ll be over in 15.
It takes him ten minutes instead of the fifteen he said it would. I’m waiting for him in my living room when he strides in. His black hair is cut shorter than usual, and some stubble has grown on his face. Bianca must be up late again.
She’s only nine months old and sleeps during the day, but is up all night. I don’t know how her little lungs can handleall that screaming. Her birth has been kept a secret, and for a good reason. It’s barely been over a year and a half since Helen managed to take the girls. And we have more powerful enemies than her, who are just waiting for a weakness to strike.
“This better be an actual emergency, Lucio, or I swear to God, I will have Mariano hang you by your fucking balls.”
I cringe at the vivid imagery. “Don’t take your fucking anger out on me. I’m not a punching bag, and I’m not the one keeping your daughter up at ungodly hours of the night just to torment you.”
A scowl settles over his features, the deep frown lines etched into his stupid face. “Out with it, Lucio. I don’t have time for your stupidity. I need to get back to my wife and my daughter.”
“There’s a girl in my bed?—”
He cuts me off. “For fuck’s sake, Lucio! This better not be you calling me to help you get a girl out of your bed.”
“It’s not what you think.”
Eli lifts a brow at me, as if urging me to finish and prove him wrong.
“She’s dead.”
“Don’t tell me you fucking killed her with some kinky shit you were pulling.”
“Ew. What the fuck is wrong with you? Who asks that kind of question?” My brothers always manage to make me want to bleach my fucking brain. “But no. I woke up, and her throat was slit from one ear to the other. And a note on the bedside table.”
A muscle in his jaw tics. “Is this the same fucker who killed those other girls and left them in my city?”
“I don’t know, but the girl’s dead.” The lie comes out smoothly.
I watch for his reaction to see if he’ll catch me in the lie, but Emiliano just pushes past me and into my bedroom. I followbehind him and hear him curse under his breath. He silently pulls out his phone and calls someone.
“Romiro, get Dom and Matteo down to Lucio’s apartment. It’s an emergency.” Eli pauses before saying, “No, it can’t wait ’til after eight, asshole. Get down here.”
This time, he doesn’t wait for an answer, slipping his phone back into his jacket. He spins on his heels and faces me.
“I told you, Lucio. Stop fucking around until we’re able to figure out who the fuck is pulling this shit. But you can’t keep your dick in your pants for more than a minute.”
6
