Page 57 of Labria

“You were very upset on the phone.”

“I know. I did something bad, and I didn’t know who to call.”

“What did you do?” Nicco’s hooded eyes studied me carefully. “Whose blood is that on your face and shirt?”

I looked down at the blood on my white sleeveless tee like I was seeing it for the first time. I was. I was in shock. Seeing that creep’s blood on me didn’t make things any better.

“Labria, are you here alone?”

“No, I shot someone with that gun.” I pointed to the kitchen island and didn’t even remember how the Ruger got from my hand to the countertop.

“Who?”

“He’s upstairs in the bedroom. A man broke into the house and attacked me.”

“The man, is he dead?”

I shook my head yes. I shot someone. I couldn’t believe I did it.

“Show me.”

I was moving in slow motion, but I turned around and let Nicco follow me up the stairs. When I turned to see if he was behind me, I noticed he had removed a gun from somewhere on his body and he was trailing close behind me.

When we got to the hallway, he shoved me behind him. He glanced into the guest bedroom on the right. He walked further down the hall and stopped at the master bedroom on the left.

Gianni’s body was visible from the door. It was almost blocking the door, but not quite.

“What the fuck? This motherfucker. I can’t believe he went this far.”

What did he mean by that?

Nicco tucked his gun away in the holster I hadn’t noticed at his waist. He crouched down near what was left of Gianni’s head. “How many times did you shoot him?”

“Once, I think.”

“Yeah, I see once in the head.”

“Yeah, he was on top of me.”

“Shit, that’s fucked up for him. He is definitely deceased.” Nicco said almost jokingly, without looking at me.

“I didn’t mean to kill him. He was in my house. I woke up, and he was standing in my bedroom. He started attacking me.”

“No explanations needed. I know you didn’t call him over.”

“He was going on about killing me to get back at Lord. I don’t know why. Lord doesn’t tell me about you guys’ business stuff.”

“Well, this is not a big problem.”

“It’s not.”

“Wait, did you call the police?”

“No.” Of course not.

“Did you call anybody?”

“Only Lord, I forgot he was in New York. He didn’t answer, and I didn’t leave a message.”

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