Page 4 of The Italian Reckoning (A New York Criminal Empire #3)

“Still.” Gio’s shoulders sag like he’s deflating and he drags one hand through his thinning hair.

“I only learned she was missing when her friend Mary called for her expecting her to be here. That feeling…” He touches his chest through his loosely buttoned shirt.

“It’s like I already knew something had happened, like a piece was suddenly carved right out of me. ”

“Gio. This is not your fault, understand? Whoever did this, I will find them and I will make them pay. I promise you that this will not go unanswered. And don’t you worry about anything. I’ll send someone with some food, I’ll take care of your bills and the funeral costs, okay?”

“I can’t ask you to do that.” The defeat in my friend's eyes is almost as painful as the heartbreak in his voice.

“You’re not asking,” I reply softly. “I’m telling. Let me deal with this, okay? You need to take care of yourself and your wife.”

Gio nods eventually, and he reminisces about Belle in the time it takes for us to finish the shitty coffee.

I drink quickly, fighting my gag reflex at how bad four heaped teaspoons actually tastes.

Gio trusts me to take care of things, so after a long hug and another repeat of the promise, I leave his home confident that he won’t be an issue.

Not that I’d blame him, but I don’t need my father causing more pain here.

The door closes behind me and I close my eyes for a few seconds, turning my face to the hot sun in the sky. Birds sing overhead, insects buzz in the flowers around the garden, and the world moves on around me, completely unaware of the destroyed family I’ve left in that home.

Whoever did this to Belle won’t get a single drop of mercy.

“What the hell are you doing here?” Sharp words barked at me in a familiar voice that I never expected to hear draw me from my thoughts.

Opening my eyes, I squint slightly in the sunlight to see Detective Sarah Gogs striding up the path toward me.

Her light blonde hair looks briefly white with how it reflects the sun, and it’s the warmest thing about her when her steely grey eyes glare at me through a pair of square blue glasses framing her face.

I haven’t seen her since she saved my life at the Russian gala last year.

Two bullets to the back nearly ended my life after I did everything I could to save Anastasia Remizova from her jealous, tyrannical adviser.

My payment for doing a good deed was spending several minutes dying alone in a hallway, certain that my time was up.

Until Sarah found me. Then all the hatred we had for our respective professions went out the window as she saved my life.

She later made it clear that she only saved me out of an obligation to her duty and nothing else.

It’s a shame that hatred had to return.

“A warm welcome as always, Sarah.”

“It’s Detective Gogs to you,” she snaps, glancing past me at the closed door. “Here on some intimidation, huh?”

I press a hand to my chest and smirk. “Do you really think so little of me?”

“Yes. Do you need me to spell it out more clearly?”

“Couldn’t hurt.”

“Get out of my way.”

“I’m not in your way. Besides, isn’t a cop’s duty to trample on everything in an attempt to get to their version of the truth?” Raising a brow, I glance playfully at the flowers she’ll need to step on if she wants to get around me.

“I wouldn’t know. Most cops do whatever the hell you pay them to,” she snaps.

There’s such a delicious fire in her eyes that all thoughts of grief and revenge momentarily fade away.

Sarah has fascinated me for a long time, mostly through her incredibly strong morals making it impossible for her to be bought.

I admire that about her because people like her always crumble eventually.

Or they get chased out.

So far, neither has happened to her and it’s rather delightful to see others navigate around her. “Sarah, you should know me better than that. I don’t pay the cops to do anything.”

“Bullshit.”

“I do pay my taxes, though.” Slowly, I resume walking toward her. “Is that what you mean?”

“You? Pay taxes?” She scoffs in disgust. “You make me laugh.”

“What I would give to see exactly that.” My warm smile is met with an equally cold glare. “We’re so intimately acquainted that it pains me that I’ve never heard you laugh.”

“I’ll laugh,” she replies stiffly, “when the cell doors are closing behind you.”

“Me?” Again, I touch my chest. “What have I done?”

“Right now? It looks like you’re coming from intimidating people involved in my case.”

“Your case?” My lighthearted desire to tease her fades instantly. “You’re working on Belle’s case?”

The slip of the victim’s name makes Sarah’s eyes narrow and her lips press into a flat line. “I’m not at liberty to disclose anything to you.” Her jaw protrudes slightly as she lifts her chin and pushes past me, delicately avoiding trampling any of the flowers.

I catch a brief hint of her spicy perfume and something else, something sweet that makes my pulse skip.

“But if I find out that you had anything to do with this…” Sarah turns on the spot and points at me with one elegant finger tipped in sparkling blue nail polish. “I won’t stop until you face the full weight of the law.”

“You’d lock little old me behind bars?” I smirk, keeping a mask over the churning, complicated emotions churning in my chest.

“Yes. Because criminals like you act like you can get away with everything and I’m sick of it.”

“Ah!” I lift my hand and mock bow. “I’m not a criminal.”

“Bullshit.”

“Such foul language from the law. I ought to write in a complaint.”

To my delight, Sarah looks furious and her lips part with something surely insulting on the tip of her tongue. She looks rather gorgeous all fired up with color flushing her cheeks and her eyes wide. The insult doesn’t come, much to my disappointment.

“I don’t want to see you here again,” Sarah orders, adjusting her glasses. “Stay away from me. And if you know what’s good for you, you’ll stay away from the case too. Understand?”

She spins around and strides up to the door while I back away slowly down the path, admiring the tight, gorgeous ass that’s hidden underneath her pants yet highlighted with each of her steps.

Oh, I understand, all right. If she’s working this case, Sarah and I are going to be seeing a lot more of each other.

How fun.