Page 18

Arosso

I grab the shoulders of the newly deceased bratva rapist and toss him alongside his dead friend in the passenger’s seat. The whole van shakes as I work.

One look at that beautiful girl in the back makes me crazy. Usually, civilians are trembling and crying through this part of the process. But not her. She’s eerily still, the tape over her mouth starting to come to loose with every breath she takes.

Shhhrt!

I rip it off and stare her dead in the eyes.

“They could’ve killed me up there, Silver—”

“No. They want blood for blood. If Yuri couldn’t have your father, he was going to take you,” I say.

“So you’d let them have their way with me?” She hits me with her shoulder since she’s still cuffed, and I’m actually taken aback.

“Are you implying my rescue wasn’t up to your standards?” I growl, hiding a smirk.

There’s blood spatter everywhere, and two fresh bodies cuddling on the passenger’s seat, yet she only looks me in the eyes with scorn.

“Hardly. If you were hiding in the van, that means you had time to come rescue me from the house.” She licks her lips to get the sticky tape off her mouth, and I suffer flashbacks of our time in the shed.

“If I’m being honest, I found out just in time,” I say. “The decision was made due to a series of close calculations. A kid like you wouldn’t understand.” I grab her face by the jaw and stare at her.

“Try me, Silver.”

“I knew they wouldn’t harm you because you’re the payload. There are Ring cameras across the street that could be set off by movement, or recording indefinitely, depending on the setting. Having me swoop in would add another complication to an already high-profile murder heist.”

“You were protecting your family…” She shakes her face out of my grip. “I get it. I would do the same if mine was on the line.”

“You see reason, even when blood and death surround you.”

She scoffs. “My dad used to take me to crime scenes before my mom forbade him to. He had high hopes of me turning into the best detective Jersey had to offer… a long time ago. One bad night where I almost got hurt had him U-turn. Now here I am, a feeble accountant, stuck in the back of a van.”

Her voice shakes. There is fear in her, but she hides it well.

“Ferraro took you,” I say, and I can see the frustration in her eyes.

She scoffs in an embarrassed sort of way, or maybe in anger. “Yeah, how in hell did you know it was him? Were you watching?”

“No. I had some research done. Turns out your old family friend has a gambling addiction, and some very high-ups are after him. You were his option out.”

“His wife is dead up there.” She nods backward. “I know he’s bad, but do you really think he ordered this?”

I grunt, glancing at a car starting down the way. “No. I think these two are not known for following rules well, and she became collateral damage.”

“This is goddamn insane, Silver.”

“It is,” I agree. “Not only are we dealing with the Russians, but the entire might of the Jersey PD.”

“Shouldn’t we be burning this van or something?

It’s weird.” She dips her head. “I remember seeing another identical van when they were dragging me out of my house. One went a different way. Was that supposed to be some sort of diversion?” She slides on her backside to try and get the cuffs from behind her back to the front. “ Can you get me out of these? ”

My smirk finally breaks. I rummage through the pockets of the two corpses.

“Perceptive, kid. Yes, the fat bratva did much of our getaway job for us. We have two issues now, however.” I pull the key and hold her hands up so I can free her.

“If there’s a rendezvous location somewhere close by, then the bratva will know something’s off when we don’t show up.

I haven’t heard any burner phones go off, which gives me hope—”

“And what’s the second issue?” She shakes her hands and wipes her mouth once she’s free.

“If we move at this time of night, we will be on every traffic cam or live feed in the area. By now, a neighbor called the cops about the dead body lying outside of Ferraro’s house, so there will be high alert in the surrounding area.

The diversion van is purposely clean, taking the main streets where the cops will undoubtedly track him down.

Us? We have to be careful. We have to wait until people start waking up so we can blend into traffic.

We can probably get moving at around six. ”

“What are you?” Quinn still rubs her wrists, asking me for the second time.

“Nothing but a ghost.” I hold her gaze before starting my cleaning process.

At first, Quinn holds her nose and just watches me carefully haul the bodies toward the back one at a time. Then when I start cleaning the blood spatter, she asks if she can help.

We speak without words to one another. Such a decision means she’s not married to the law—which shocks me to no end. I hand her a rag and cleaning agents specifically for blood. It’s just a precaution, really, in case we get pulled over, because Castor— Bullion— DeMatteo has a chop shop nearby.

It’s dangerous to involve him, as it could lead back to Donny. But this will be one of those “no questions asked” situations. I’ll call it in through John.

Watching her scrub with her clothes all half-torn… it does something primal to me. I want to take her now, show her that we’re meant to exist in this crossroad, against every rule this world has to offer.

Instead, I see her hand shaking, so I take off my glove and grab it.

“You’re brave,” I whisper.

Her head turns slightly so our eyes connect. “I have no choice.”

“You know I wouldn’t have let anything happen to you, right?”

She bites her lip and looks away. “When I was up there… when he was groping and tearing at my…” She chokes up. “I prayed you would come.”

A bolt of angry lightning shoots down my spine. If I could bring that bratva back to life just to kill him all over again, I would.

“I’m here,” is all I can offer, and her gaze slowly rises up my face, as her lips reach for mine.

We share a passionate, slow kiss that dispels the night’s tension. She tastes like toothpaste and metallic, and the hot air she sighs into my mouth fans a flame I’ve been fighting for days. I grip her arm to tell her I want her, right now . Then I pull back.

“ Thank you, ” she whispers, her lips remaining parted like a door begging me to walk back through.

She adjusts herself in the seat when she realizes I’m not coming for more.

“I didn’t realize how much darkness surrounds me.

” She winces, fighting a breakdown. “I’ve known that man my whole life.

He’s protected me more times than I can count. ”

“Until he’s backed into a corner of his own making. Those are the times you see a man’s real character, Quinn. I’m sorry you had to learn it the hard way.” I go to scrub the window. “It won’t be long now before we’re free of this mess.”

The hour and a half goes by in relative silence. I noticed the tears falling down her face on more than one occasion, and I let her suffer them, because that’s what needs to happen right now. I know the pain all too well.

Was I part of a world where death lurked around every corner? Yes… I was the reaper that waited.

Should I have been hardened to accept it even in my own home? Yes.

But sometimes life doesn’t work that way.

When my family was taken, I broke too. And there was nothing anyone could say or do to fix that. Ferraro was her family in a way. Her whole life is spinning upside down into oblivion. Who would’ve thought I’d be the one to ground it?

Once the bodies are sufficiently wrapped like carpets in the back, and the front dash is nearly too pristine for a plumbing vehicle, I start the car.

Quinn’s long pale fingers are wrapped around my seat directly behind me. I can’t have her ride at my side since she’s the only survivor in a murder heist—that is, if Ferraro lets them know she’s gone. There will be so much fuckery surrounding this case. It’ll be best to just disappear.

“You’re safe now, kid. You can relax,” I say.

“Not yet.”

We drive carefully onto Main Street. John had to request from Castor that the chop shop workers stay overnight to keep it open. Special Delivery , they called it. That’s a fucking understatement.

Once we pull into the garage of the chop shop, it’s like we’ve made it to the mafia embassy. It’s a checkpoint. We’re safe .

I instruct Quinn to keep her hood on the entire time and look straight at the floor. The workers are all exhausted with bloodshot eyes, and couldn’t give half a shit with who I’m rolling with. Still, I can’t have anyone identifying the captain’s daughter.

We’re in and out with an old black Chevy within the hour. And now that we’re side by side incognito—my little ghostette—I can breathe.

I glance over at her resting her head on the window, letting it bounce with the bumps. She catches my glance and looks my way. All that fire in her was extinguished when the workers pulled the bodies out of the van.

Trauma works in weird ways. Some people turn off their emotions until they have a chance to breathe. Others freeze up in the moment. It’s an odd process to dissect. I give her the room she needs to experience her own roller coaster.

I’m obsessed with this woman, I realize. Even knowing the situation will fade and we’ll ultimately fall apart because of the age gap… I still find myself making drastic plays to keep her safe.

“What?” She keeps staring at me.

“What yourself,” I growl.

“Oh, now that I’m not all tied up for you to pity, you’re going back to being a grumpy old shit?”

This is what she needs to cope, I tell myself. “How about some fucking gratitude? You and your dad would be in a Russian box if I hadn’t intervened, twice now.”

“Oh please, Silver. Dishrag or whatever his name was is right. You’re just chasing this.” She motions to her pussy. “Oh wait, you rejected that too when I offered it.”