Page 130 of The Mafia Enforcer's Temptation

She keeps her gaze and the gun locked on me as she listens to whatever he’s saying. Finally, Ava just cuts him off.

“You should have some money by now. And the rest of the papers are here. You don’t get them until my sister is safe. Mikeyof the de Rosa organization will collect her, and when he has her, he’ll let me know.”

Hanlon must say something because she speaks again.

“If you try anything, you won’t get the papers. I have them, but if you kill me, you’ll never see them. Trust goes two ways. You’ve got ten minutes.”

She hangs up. She motions me into the shadows. Anyone watching can see, but only if they’re watching.

After five minutes of silently staring at each other, our words locked tight, her phone rings. I hear Mikey’s voice.

“I’ll call your family so they can get you,” he says.

“In time for you to kill them?” I ask, purposely using as few words as possible.

“The bomb’ll kill them.”

The conversation doesn’t include everything we want to say. But we can’t say those words. And there’s so much danger in this, so many things that could go wrong.

She knows that, too. And a tear slides down her cheek.

It almost kills me that I can’t kiss it away.

“You know,” she says softly. “I really could fall for you, if I had a heart.”

“I think I just did fall for you. Completely.”

“Seamus…” My name’s a broken whisper on her lips. But it’s time, and we both know it. He’ll be here soon, and she motions me into the doorway. “Goodbye.”

She pulls the trigger.

And this time, her bullet hits the mark.

THIRTY

ava

Bile risesin the back of my throat. He’s hard to move, dead weight, but I do it, moving Seamus to a dark corner. Then I pile broken tables in front of him.

Please don’t let him be hurt. Not from the gunshot, and not from the fall.

There’s blood on the ground right where he fell, and if it’s his and not the fake shit, I’ll lose my mind.

He can’t move or talk to me. He has to play dead for this to work.

But if I killed him…

My stomach flips again.

I basically told him I loved him. I couldn’t say it. Not in the right words. We don’t know who’s watching, who’s in here with us.

He said it back.

A chill slithers down my spine.

What if something goes wrong?

He could die for real. He could already be dead.