Page 59 of Toxic

Sal shrugs and smiles, unrepentant, and then turns his attention to me. “And this lovely lady. We meet again. I have to tell you, King. This one is special. It isn’t every day someone survives Danny and lives to tellaboutit.”

“What do you want, Sal?” Gracin asks; his tone makes it evident he has no patience for Sal’sprevaricating.

“I want you dead,” he says bluntly. He turns and meets my eyes. “And I’m willing to offer your cute little girlfriend her freedom to start over if she does the deedforme.”

I don’t let my expression betray anything. “That’s a nice offer,” I begin, “but it doesn’t cover what I wantfromyou.”

Sal raises a brow, and his lips twitch. “What exactlyisthat?”

Danny freezes, and I turn to him with a vicious smile on my face. “Him,” I say with a nod in hisdirection. “Dead.”

Sal considers for a moment, and Danny, who doesn’t miss the pause, comes to life with a roar. Gracin jumps in front of me, and the next thing I know, the sound of a gunshot fillstheroom.

IwatchGracin jerk with the force of the bullet and then fall to the floor,lifeless.

Everythingstops.

Mybreathing.

Myheartbeat.

Myworld. . .

Everything.

Please don’t be dead.Please don’t be dead.Just hold on for a few moreminutes.

“You son of a bitch,” I grind out through clenched teeth as my gun trains on Danny. The single brain cell between his ears must tell him to be scared because his face drains of allcolor.

“You’re a feisty one, aren’t you,caramia?” Salcroons.

I can’t tell from my vantage point if the blood coming from Gracin’s body is from a fatal shot or just a flesh wound, but I don’t dare take my eyes off Danny for fear that I maybenext.

“What doyouwant?”

Sal crosses the room as Danny and his friends keep their guns trained on me. “What do I want?” he says as he takes out a decanter of whiskey and pours himself a healthy measure. “I have what I want. The King is dead, or he will be soon. He died knowing his woman was in my hands, her fate to be determined by me. He died knowing how I felt when he murdered my son. Children are everything to me, to my family. King’s employers knew that. He was supposed to be off limits.” Spit flies from his mouth. “King should have knownbetter.”

“If he didn’t know it then, he knows it now, you asshole,” Ishout.

“Spare me the theatrics,” Sal says with the wave ofahand.

Danny takes a step closer. “I’ll take care of her foryou,boss.”

“Don’t you fucking dare,” I say to him, spit flying. Danny’s agitated expression is too animated. Too nervous just under the surface. “Wait. You didn’t tell him,didyou?”

Sal takes another drink and sets the glass down on the bar. “Tellmewhat?”

“She’s fuckin’ crazy, boss,” Danny interrupts. “Delusional. She’d have to be to be a whore for King. Who can sleep with a psycho like that withoutmedication?”

Sal stops him with a raised hand. To me, he says, “Tellmewhat?”

I lift my chin. “I was eight weeks pregnant with King’s baby when your guys picked me up.” I look at Danny with all the loathing and hate I can muster. “I wasn’t pregnant anymore when they were throughwithme.”

My words fall like stones to the bottom of a lake, the ripples shifting and affecting everything in their wake. Danny’s head drops, and he turns to Sal with his hands held up indefense.

“I didn’t know,” he saysmiserably.

Sal’s rage billows across his face, turning it a florid red. “You fucking idiot,” he says. “If you weren’t family, I’d put a bullet in your head myself. We don't murderchildren.”