Page 31 of Blood Money

We returned to where Santino was finishing up with Kendall. He glanced at me, gave me a few instructions, then turned back to Kendall, who he now had sitting in a chair behind the counter. “Miss O’Sullivan, do you have any questions about what I recommended?”

“No,” she murmured. The entire time, she refused to look at me—and I knew.

She still hates me.

Maybe that was for the best. No matter how bad it ripped my chest open until I felt like I was bleeding out. My life had changed so much over the last ten years. If it wasn’t safe for her then, it sure as hell wasn’t now.

Then why did it feel like someone had carved out my heart with a dull, rusty knife?

“Did you get a look at who did this?” I asked her.

“Yes,” she whispered, staring at her clasped hands.

“Can you tell me what you remember?” Dario asked as he pulled his phone out. His thumbs rapidly tapped at his phone while she described the two men who’d come in and held her at gunpoint before pistol-whipping her. That little detail signed their death warrant when I found them—because Iwouldfind them.

“They didn’t exactly disguise themselves. They were either really stupid or really bold,” she muttered.

Once we were certain Dario had noted every detail she remembered, he and Santino helped her upstairs. Every time they touched her skin to guide her, my teeth creaked as I ground them together. I followed at a safe distance to keep myself from snarling and lashing out at my own fucking men.

Upstairs, she was sitting on the couch when I stepped into the living room. In my earlier search, I’d remained focused and impersonal. Now that she was essentially safe, I allowed my curiosity free rein and scanned the apartment, comparing it to what it looked like ten years ago. My gaze fell on the door to her old room.

Memories assaulted me as I fought against the vise crushing my lungs.

By the time I pulled myself out of my head, Kendall had gone into the bathroom. Dario and Santino stared at me, waiting for guidance.

“You two can go,” I told them.

Dario’s dark brow cocked. Santino glanced from him to me and back.

“I’m not leaving you here alone,” Dario insisted.

“I won’t be alone. Kendall is here, and I’m not leavingheralone after this happened. The assholes could come back, she could have a brain bleed, go into a coma, anything. Even Santino said she should have someone with her. I’ll call you in the morning to pick me up. Santino, you don’t have anything you’re currently assigned to, so I want you on the bakery during the days. Tell Georgie he has the night shift,” I instructed.

“Vittorio,” Dario began, hesitation heavy in his tone. “I’ll stay with you.”

“Did I stutter?” I coldly asked. As the underboss of the family, I didn’t like being questioned. I answered only to Gabriel.

“No, sir. You did not,” Dario replied, but his pursed lips told me he wasn’t happy with my directive.

“I’ll walk you down to lock up.” They both nodded, and I followed them downstairs.

After I opened the door, Santino left with his black assault pack. To the common observer, he looked a bit like a college instructor with a backpack.

Dario glared at me. “What are you doing?”

As my bodyguard and the closest person to me, next to my brothers, he took liberties when we were alone that others wouldn’t.

“Ensuring her safety.”

“Why?”

“Because it’s my responsibility to ensure the safety of those who fall under The Family’s umbrella.”

He crossed his arms over his chest and gave me his silent regard for a moment. “That might be true if they had paid this month, but even if they had, it isn’t the underboss’s place to conduct a soldier’s responsibilities. So try again. Why?”

“You know, I’d blacken the eye of anyone less than you.”

“So?”

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