Page 32 of Venomous Throne

“Let me make you a cup of tea, Saveria,” I said once the food was in front of the kids.

She nodded weakly, and I rushed to grab a cheap bag of crushed leaves that might be black tea, might be from some random plant. The microwave protested at the task of heating water.

Saveria collapsed into a chair. Her youngest crawled onto her lap.

“If there is anything I can do, you’ll tell me?” I said softly.

Her long sigh was filled with the weight of the world. “I don’t know how we’re going to make rent this month. That was what….” Her voice faltered. “That was what we were talking about when you came.”

I handed her the chipped cup of hot water, the teabag bleeding into the liquid. “I’ll figure it out.”

Saveria clasped my hand, placing her lips on it. “Bless you, donna.”

Donna.

It wasn’t necessarily connected to the mob. It was a term of respect amongst our people. But in light of the enterprise I was undertaking, it was filled with a promise.

The hairs on the back of my neck stood up. That tingling sense that I was being watched consumed me. Turning, I met Jaxon’s gaze. He stood in the hall, blood staining his hands. He’d overheard, but he hopefully didn’t understand the severity of this woman’s pledge of loyalty.

Santa Caterina, he was beautiful. Where was this angel of vengeance when I was in Saveria’s shoes? Well, no matter. He was here now. I longed for just one small taste of his violence.I could use him on my team.

Chapter 14 – Isabella

The wagon’s plastic wheels clattered behind me. Each bump or crack made the flimsy thing creak and rattle in a high-pitched caterwauling.

When we were far away from the house, when I recovered the capacity of speech, I finally opened my mouth and started with the most obvious of my million questions.

“Where did you come from?”

Jaxon cocked his head, not looking over at me but completely focused on my presence walking beside him.

“I mean, what were you doing on this street? Outside their house?” I clarified.

“I was on a run.”

He wore athletic shorts and shoes. It lent credibility to his statement. I looked him up and down, trying to judge the truth. Dio mio, I didn’t realize nature made legs that long. Muscles so thick!

I tore my gaze away from his distracting thighs. “And you what? Happened to see the situation—”

“I can’t stand men who hurt women.” The words came out in a hard snap. The crack of a whip wouldn’t be as sharp.

“Thank you,” I breathed. “She doesn’t deserve that.”

Jaxon’s hands, cleaned from the blood, swiped over his hair. “I got…carried away.”

“I don’t think so,” I whispered. The raw confession felt intimate.

“Bloody hell,” Jaxon hissed, cutting a look away. “You’ve seen things, haven’t you?”

That wasn’t an admission I was willing to share. “Where is he, anyhow?” I looked around the street. There was no sign of the drunken husband.

“I sent him walking.”

That sounded more ominous than it probably was.

We fell into another comfortable silence as we trudged down the broken stretch of sidewalk. One of the first things I was doing as the crime boss was having the city come and fix this place up. I didn’t want new people to move into the neighborhoods, uprooting the population with a better price tag. I wanted the people who existed here to have a home they were proud of. And the city had money—heaps of it! It was high time they directed some of the funds this way. With the proper incentives, they would.

“Are you hungry?” Jaxon asked.