Page 64 of Tormented Diamonds

I hope that draws a bold enough line for him to keep his fucking ass behind it.

He gives me a dazed look, like a guy who just watched his girlfriend and side piece strike up a conversation.

Fuck.

These goddamn rabbit holes just keep getting deeper.

“It’s him, isn’t it?” I ask in a tone much calmer than I feel. “Sartorre is your infamous ‘contact.’ That’s why you were so hesitant to name him.”

“I told you I offered him a piece of Marcello’s downfall. I just didn’t specify how.”

“You gave him confidential information.”

He sighs. “Look, I get it. Outsourcing family business isn’t something we do. But there was no time for rules and structure. I have my reservations about the outsider you brought in the circle, but I accept it because you trust him. How about doing the same for me?”

I’d rather eat glass. However, he’s right. With Declan Flynn still alive, I can’t refuse anyone’s help.

I’m about to make a concession I reallydon’t want to when my phone rings.

Irritated, I pull it from my pocket and hit the answer button. “Damn it, Carrera, I’m not?—”

“Gianni…” comes a solemn voice.

I feel my face fall. “Paulie, what’s wrong? Did you find Reese?”

“Yeah,” he says, the edge to his voice turning my blood cold. “What’s left of him.”

Chapter Nineteen

GIANNI

Iwalk into the bedroom and find Becca in the same position I left her in six hours ago. Well, thirty-nine hours ago, if I allow for the nightmare-infused sleep, courtesy of a cup of narcotic-laced hot tea. Not my proudest moment, but I didn’t know what else to do.

She hasn’t spoken a word since I broke the news to her about Reese. She just sits in the bay window of our bedroom with her knees tucked to her chest, staring blankly through the glass. A drastic one-eighty from the hysterical woman who caused ten thousand dollars’ worth of damage to our living room within seconds of hearing the filtered details of her father’s fate.

It’s a moment permanently carved into the darkest part of my soul.

The hope on her face when I walked through the door almost killed me. She knew Sera had stopped by the club, and itwas clear she thought it’d worked—that I’d come home to kick down the last remaining bricks between us.

God, how I wished that were true.

Instead, I had to tell her how Paulie arrived in the Pennsylvania mountains to find Hooper’s cabin burned to the ground. Reese was right to choose it. Itwassecluded, so much so that there was no one around to call the fire department. The fact Paulie found the charred remains of Providence’s police chief lying facedown, away from the door tells me a bullet to the back of the head took him out long before a single flame touched him.

A consolation Becca didn’t find comforting.

I’ll never stop hearing her gut-wrenching scream in my head. Then, I felt the woman I know disintegrate in my arms as rage took over. I watched the guilt settle onto her shoulders, a bitter load that drives a person to do things and become things they never thought possible.

“I’ll make them pay, cara mia,”was the vow I whispered against her tear-stained face.

And like I’ve always told her—I keep my promises.

“If a cup of tea is in your hand, you can turn around and walk right back out,” she says, still facing the glass. “I don’t fall for the same trick twice.”

I’m not fond of her tone, but at least she’s talking. I’ll take what I can get.

“No, I’ve come bearing other gifts.”

“Not interested.”