Page 46 of Vicious Hearts

“Well, maybe a bit.” Ben smiles and puts his arm around my waist.

Leo grins at him. “Attaboy,tovarishch. So what did Kal have to say?”

“He told me he’d get Hillard off my back long enough for us to see this shit through. We discovered that Farraday definitely isn’t The Dollmaker, and they dosed him with acid toinducepsychosis and prevent him from speaking out.”

Leo’s eyes widen. “Clever but diabolical. How’d you find that out?”

“This idiot opened one of Farraday’s medicine capsules and tasted it,” I say. There’s an uncomfortable pause.

“Benedikt, you are the smartest person I know,” Leo says, shaking his head, “but fuck me, you do some stupid shit.”

Luna reappears in the doorway. She’s wearing pajamas, a bathrobe, and slippers, but the slippers are not a matching pair. On her head is a Swarovski crystal tiara.

“Can I stay up to be with Roxy?” she asks.

Ali frowns. “Nope. It’s late already.”

Luna pouts, then brightens. “Okay. Daddy, willyoutuck me in?”

Leo smiles indulgently at her. “Of course I will. But you can’t wear that crown to bed,malyshka.”

He stands and scoops Luna into his arms. She pouts as he gently disentangles the tiara from her hair and hands it to Ali.

Luna rests her head on her father’s shoulder, and I kiss her nose. “G’night, baby girl. We’re going soon anyway.”

Leo turns in the doorway. “If there’s anything we can do to help, let us know.” He looks at Ben. “But if experience has taught me anything, it’s that events tend to come to a head quickly and painfully.” He strokes Luna’s hair. “If you gotta choose, protect what you love.”

Luna smiles at me, waving sleepily as she disappears from view.

* * *

The restaurant is beautiful. A small but comfortable place with warm amber lighting and views of Italy painted on the walls.

“I would dearly love to visit Lake Como,” I say, dipping a piece of focaccia into a bowl of olive oil. “My Mom was from Lombardy, and we visited once, when I was very young. I don’t remember, but there were photos on the walls of our house.”

Ben strokes the back of my hand with his fingertip. “I know. We talked about Lake Como when you were in the hospital, and that’s why I brought you here. But you didn’t tell mewhyit meant so much.”

I’m touched that he remembered. I don’t knowwhatwe talked about back then, but it seems he committed every word I said to memory.

Maybe Ali is right, and he’s been fighting his feelings for longer than I realized.

I smile. “Ask me later.”

Is this what love should be like?I don’t know. I’m so afraid of being abandoned that obsession feelsbetterthan love—more real, more secure. The frightened girl inside mewantsBen’s intensity and dysfunction, but the mature, adult Roxy needs a healthy relationship. A man who can keep his cool and guide me as I grow and heal.

Ben said I’d bring out the worst in him, and perhaps he’s right. Maybe he brings out the worst in me, too. But I want to reach inside andknowhis darkness, not just experience it.

Right now, thisfeelsright. Safe, normal. A glimpse of the potential we have to be happy together.

We split a wild mushroom pizza, Caprese salad, and a bottle of white wine. Ben listens to me as I tell him about my studies and reading on criminal psychology.

“Do you consider yourself an expert?” he asks. “Think about this. We’re tracking down a serial killer, but what is Leo? He’sVolk Smerti, the most feared assassin ever to work for the Bratva. I estimate he killed an average of one person a week for years, putting his headcount well into the hundreds. What do we call him?”

I frown, sipping my wine to buy time to think.

“He has a code,” I say. “Sure, he’s a murderer, but he killed people who deserved it, at the behest of his boss. The Dollmaker is worlds away from that.”

Ben nods. “Agreed. But no one believes they are the villain in their own story, so just like Leo, The Dollmaker has some kind of framework that, in his mind, explains or justifies his actions.”

---