Page 90 of Silent Vendetta (Vendetta Duet)

“Let me go!” I squirmed until I broke free and made it to my dad.

Where Hunter hovered his body over mine again, shielding me, should a second bullet strike.

“Daddy,” I whispered, cupping his cheek.

Just like all those years ago, my father had been taken beyond my grasp while I sobbed helplessly, my tears soaking into his button-down shirt.

The words he’d spoken when I’d sobbed as a little girl, ripped from the sanctuary of his arms, echoed through my heart like a torturous metronome.

“It’s okay, Luna,”he had said.“You can let me go.”

“No!” I screamed so loud, that my voice cracked as I clutched the fabric of his shirt.

CHAPTER39

Luna

“Luna, don’t do this.”

I sat in the front seat of a funeral home, waiting for the service to begin, while Hunter stood along the far wall, giving Rinaldi a chance to talk me out of this.

This place reminded me of a home in the 1800s. Thick, white trim, lace fabrics, peach walls, as if that could soothe away the pain of losing their loved one whose casket was displayed front and center.

As if to say,Here, come look at the dead person who’s now a translucent version of the warm flesh you once hugged. It will give you closure.

“They haven’t found who killed him,” I said in a monotone voice that bordered on hopeless frustration.

We had done everything we could within the legal system. We showed up at police headquarters every day, putting pressure on detectives so that the case would remain a top priority. I had called Mayor Kepler and asked for favors. I had asked for favors from old colleagues. I had put out a news press. Sean had done an emergency podcast. I had done everything I could, and yet we still had no leads.

“It’s only been a few days,” Detective Rinaldi said.

I pulled the tissue I was holding into a tight line and twisted it around my finger until the circulation cut off.

“A few days is everything with an investigation, you know that. If a murder isn’t solved within forty-eight hours, statistically, it’s not going to get solved.”

“Luna…”

I whipped my gaze to hers.

“If you’re asking me to hold on to hope and keep fighting this fight for the next several months or years or decades, you’ve come to the wrong person. I told you guys my father had been threatened. Where was the police protection? Not just for my dad, but you knew that Franco had threatened Hunter. And me. According to you, we were supposed to be under police surveillance.”

Maybe it wasn’t fair to take all my anger out on Detective Rinaldi, but I didn’t have it in me to care about that right now.

“A police officer did follow you guys to the courthouse, and he was in the courtroom. He was twenty steps behind you when this happened.”

I was furious at myself for walking out the front door of the courthouse.

I mean, how naive and reckless of me to assume that whoever had been trying to stop the hearing from happening would have nothing to gain by following through with those threats after the hearing had taken place.

I guess if I were being honest, the person I was most furious with was myself. I could’ve asked Hunter for an army of bodyguards around my father, and he would have given it to me. I could’ve taken Dad out the back door. I could’ve done a million things differently, but I hadn’t.

I had failed him.

And now the legal system was failing him.

Again.

“The police don’t even have a lead. They have many cases, and they might not prioritize a convicted felon’s death.”

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