Page 50 of Did My Heart Love Till Now?

I started to back up, pressing my hands together. “Thank you.”

“Call me if you need me.”

With an expression of relief, I whirled around and sprinted down the other hall before anyone got wind of me disappearing.

A single hooded figure sat eight rows from the altar just inside a pew, leaving enough space for another person on the end. The church was completely empty, and I felt like we would be safe to speak freely but I did not quite trust the atmosphere. There were ears and eyes all over the place.

Sauntering down the nave, I sat down next to Nick. He did not look at me, nor did I glance at him. He was perfectly still, hands resting on his legs, staring ahead.

“What's going on?” He whispered.

“I found the rat.” I muttered, matching his volume. “Well, one of them.”

His eyes darted to me, but his head did not. “Who the hell is it?”

“Martina Ri—”

Squeezing the back of the pew in front of us, he shot to his feet. I followed suit and began to scan the area, watching my back. “Martina fucking Ricci.”

I nodded. “I have her.”

“Take me to her now.” His eyes darted back and forth.

I shook my head, averting my gaze to the floor. “I can’t.”

“What do you,” he raised his voice then brought it back to a hiss, “mean you can’t?”

“You know she's heavily guarded by my guys.” I sighed. “My family will kill you.”

“I’m going to murder that bitch.” He ran his teeth over his bottom lip.

“We haven't gotten info from her yet,” I exhaled, “but we know she is for sure one of the rats.”

“I never thought she would do that shit.”

“What is she to you?” I mumbled under my breath as I saw the priest enter from the side door.

He scoffed. “Well, she was my girlfriend.”

“Well, she's a whore then.” I snorted.

“You too?” He snapped his gaze to mine.

I shrugged a shoulder. “We messed around a long time ago, but nothing serious.”

“I want—”

His sentence was interjected at the sound of a door opening and slamming closed in the back of the church. We concurrently rotated, seeing we were no longer alone with the nearby priest.

“Shit.” We murmured in unity.

Joey marched our way, coming to a stop before us. We stepped into the aisle. I did not know how this was going to go as he wore an angry expression. Nick and I waited tensely. Joey only darted his eyes back and forth with a judgmental glare.

Nick was not fazed one bit by Joey's threatening presence. They had issues before. I was waiting for either of them to draw a weapon or throw a punch. The tension between them was increasing by the second.

“Joey, I need—”

“I don't want to know.” He shook his head, focusing on Nick. “I just need to know you mean Gavino no harm.”

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