Page 93 of Made to Sin

I was wrong.

Dark-toned furniture, subtle wallpaper, a grand staircase, and gold chandeliers. This was more inviting than stepping foot in Marco’s mansion back then.

The middle-aged brunette looked up as we approached, scanned our faces for a second, and broke into a smile. “Luciano, we haven’t seen you in so long. Did you get our gift?”

Her calling him by his name and not “Mr. Beneveti” told me all I needed to know. He had a close relationship with the shelter. For the same reason as when I found out he hosted charities for Eda, a tingling warmth settled throughout my body.

“It was great, but there was no need for that, Sheryl.”

“The least we could have gotten you after a seven-million-dollar check was some whiskey and flowers.”

My eyes nearly bulged out of my head. No wonder this place was as decked out as it was. The paradox of a Made Man supporting the end of violence was unheard of, but it was a starting push for the sparse movement in the Underworld.

Luciano removed his hand from mine and placed it on my lower back to push me forward. “Sheryl, this is Katarina. Katarina, meet Sheryl.”

Her grin grew wider at the mention of me, but her attention remained on Luciano. “I haven’t seen you bring a girl here in my thirty-five years of working. Is she the special one?”

I momentarily froze at her words. The first girl he brought to this was me. Not Sofia, not his other hookups… butme.I didn’tknow how my brain was going to try and make sense of that one.

Before either of us could answer, Sheryl looked over at me. “Don’t let that big, bad wolf persona scare you, dear. He’s a real softie on the inside.”

Since we’d met, I finally saw a pink tinge touch Luciano’s cheeks. Who knew all it took was a nice lady to make the infamous don shy?

I grinned at the mental image my brain was forming. “I’ll keep that in mind. Thank you.”

She smirked as if she told me the biggest secret in the world. “Okay, go right on ahead, kids.”

Luciano led me past Sheryl’s desk and into the main room. As soon as we were far enough from earshot, he grumbled, “Don’t listen to her.”

“Aw, is the big, bad mobster scared of some feelings?”

“Really?” He deadpanned.

I laughed the whole way down the hall.

“Okay, you had your fun. But look.”

It took a while for me to sober up, but once I did, all traces of humor evaporated into amazement. I didn’t know where to look first, the stimulation was almost overwhelming. The room was packed, conversations and games booming. Children, teenagers, adults, elders, males, females— people of all ages and genders interacted as if they were in their own little town. To say it was lively was an understatement.

“What are we supposed to do here?” I whispered to Luciano, despite the loud chatter drowning out our voices.

“We’re here for a monthly report, not an inspection, so just have fun. The goal is to see how the shelter is running.”

As he gave me a little nudge to join the crowd, a swirl of anxiety and excitement settled in my stomach. If there were people who understood me, they would be found here.

Call it Lady Luck’s striking again or intuition, but my eyesimmediately landed on a girl sitting in the far left corner. Her golden-kissed skin was tainted with fresh, purple bruises as her head was cast down with long, brown hair covering her face.

Kindred soul.

With more determination in my steps, I left Luciano by the front and walked toward her.

“Excuse me, are you okay?” I asked upon coming closer.

She sniffed and stared up at me. My breath hitched, and I instinctively took a step back.

More tears fell from her large eyes. “What? Am I that ugly that you can’t even look at me without flinching?”

“No, no. I’m sorry, don’t get the wrong message. You just reminded me of someone— of myself— and it caught me by surprise,” I quickly explained.

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