AllFreeNovel
Share Us
A minute later, the detectives returned and uncuffed me. Detective Vane was so angry she couldn’t meet my eyes.
“Now, I suppose an apology to my client is in order, and then we’ll see ourselves out,” Ronan said, straightening his cuffs and peering down imperiously at both cops. He was an extremely tall and burly man.
“Get lost, Black.”
“A pleasure as always, Dolores. And if I may say, you’re looking a little stressed. Maybe try yoga, it’s great for tension relief.”
With that, Ronan ushered me out of the room and along to Processing, where I collected my bag.
The next thing I knew, we were in the waiting room, and Renato was striding toward me. He pulled me into a hard hug, and I couldn’t breathe anything except his warm scent. It was better than oxygen to a person suffocating.
“Are you all right?”
“I think you cracked another rib, but apart from that, fine,” I teased him.
He immediately leaned back to survey me. “Cristo, you’re never leaving Casa Nera again,” he muttered.
“But I’m going to be working soon,” I reminded him.
A muscle tensed in his jaw. “I’ll build a hospital on the property.”
I laughed and leaned into him.
“Are you all right?” he asked again.
“Yes, I am, except I feel like everyone knows more than me, and I hate that.”
He pressed a kiss to my forehead. “Let’s go home, and I’ll catch you up.”
40
RENATO
Three hours earlier
Commissioner Reynolds lived at the top of a high-rise apartment block in Trenton. It was ideal, actually, like the gods were shining down on me and approving my revenge, not that anything could have stopped me.
He lay on the concrete rooftop, sweating through his wrinkled dress shirt.
“I didn’t have anything to do with any of it, why would I go against you, De Sanctis?”
“Haven’t you seen some of those online challenges people make videos about? Some people are just too dumb to understand when something will result in certain death. You thought your little bit of power and pathetic reputation as a public figure would protect you. It’s a mistake you can only make once, I’m afraid.”
He groaned, staring at the sky. “I should have known those Castillo fuckers were all talk.‘We can take out Renato, just give us a chance.’Right.” He turned a miserable expression on me. “None of this would have happened if you hadn’t cut me off. You limit my funds and collect all kinds of crap on me, but you forget how much I have to pay to people to keep the things you do quiet.”
“Not my problem. Did you see the news about your buddy, Judge Ellens?”
Reynolds swallowed hard. He’d seen. He had to have known he was next.
“I can still help you. You’ll need a new judge to look the other way. You’ll need someone to keep the detectives out of your business.”
“Maybe so, but it won’t be you.” I nodded to Elio.
He had tied Reynolds’ feet together with rope and anchored that around a cinder block. I took the bottle of lighter fluid I usually used to burn my gloves and dumped it liberally all over Reynolds and the rope.
“What are you doing? Renato, we can talk about this! I worked for your father.”
“I don’t care. I don’t care about anything except that you involvedher.” The bruising on Charlotte’s jaw filled my head, and fury burned through me.
