Page 95 of Kings & Chaos

I grabbed my bag and kept up the chatter as she led me to the front door. When we got there I noticed the giant box on the floor. The top had been split open, packing material spilling from the inside.

“That’s a big package,” I said.

She opened the front door without replying and looked pointedly at me.

My cue, obviously.

“It was nice meeting you,” I said. “Thanks again for accommodating us with the pictures, and I’m… I’m sorry for your loss.”

It was hard to say, because the world was better off without men like Dean Giordana, men who were either evil or so weak they stood by while other men did evil things.

But I couldn’t help it. I felt sorry for her. She looked like she was barely holding it together, and she’d clearly been rattled by the package delivery.

“Thank you,” she said.

Then I was stepping outside into the cold gray day, wondering what the fuck I’d just seen.

Chapter36

Willa

“Where’s my babysitter?” I asked Oscar, driving the Audi instead of the Porsche because he’d said it would less flashy.

Yeah, okay. The Kings wouldn’t know “less flashy" if it bit them in the ass, but here we were, speeding toward town and game number two, whether I liked it or not.

And I definitely didn’t, especially after my weird morning at the Giordana house.

The box I’d had delivered had been empty, but I’d addressed it to Samuel Giordana and paid the delivery guy to make sure it was opened before he left. I’d guessed Ruth would want to do that anyway since the names were so close, but I’d cut it too close at the end, and I was still feeling edgy, hoping Ruth Giordana didn’t call the school and describe me to Interim Dean Garcia.

“Meeting us there,” Oscar said.

“Yippee,” I said, sarcasm heavy in my voice. I’d been hoping Neo had changed his mind about acting as observer to game two. I wasn’t entirely sure Oscar would cover for me if I didn’t complete the challenge, but at least with him I had a shot.

“I know this shit is hard at first,” Oscar said. “But it’s… necessary.”

“For you maybe,” I said. “I don’t plan on sticking around the family, becoming somebody’s bored Mafia wife who looks the other way when he comes home with blood on his clothes. I don’t need this kind of preparation.”

He glanced over at me, the light from the streetlamps passing over his features before he turned back to the road. “It’s not just for that.”

“Then what?” I asked.

“We want to make sure you can defend yourself. That you’ll… fight for yourself if it comes down to it.”

“I will. I have. It’s not like I went quietly with Dean Giordana and that guy at the cabin,” I said.

“We know that,” he said. “You did good, but we need to know you’ll break rules to keep yourself safe.”

“That should be my decision,” I said, “not something I’m forced into doing for a stupid game. This isn’t who I am.”

He looked at me again. “You sure about that?”

The question was like a shot to the gut, an arrow on the bullseye of all the questions I’d been asking myself.

I turned to look through the passenger window, because no, I wasn’t sure about that. I wasn’t sure about anything anymore except that I had to figure out what happened to Emma, had to bring her home, whatever that looked like.

His question hung over the silence in the car the rest of the way to Blackwell Falls. We passed through the gentrified part of town and into Southside, where townies, gang members, and leather-clad motorcycle guys hung warily outside of the bars and clubs.

We passed those too, gliding into an even darker part of town, the buildings ghostly and abandoned.

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