Page 66 of One Filthy Kiss

This will make what I’m about to do a whole lot easier.

The driver heads towards the Gowanus Canal in Brooklyn. The sun is setting, and it looks as if a summer storm is brewing in the distance, the clouds closing in on us moody gray.

I don’t lean forward when I address the driver. “Any movement?”

“All clear this way.”

The stage is set.

We enter the grounds of the abandoned Red Hook Grain Terminal, where a line of 120-foot-tall silos covered in creeping, black mold, provide a sinister backdrop to the mouth of the canal. The car pulls right up outside the building. Most city folks are probably unaware of the building’s existence, but any bold folks seeking cheap TikTok-worthy thrills will be prosecuted if discovered trespassing on the land.

Which leaves the way clear for us.

Another black vehicle, identical to the one we’re traveling in, is already waiting for us when the driver slows to a halt outside the building’s entrance and kills the engine. Demi and I wait in the car with Amber, whose mouth is slack with sleep. The rest of my team are nowhere in sight, but wherever they are, I know that they can see us.

The driver climbs out and unscrews the license plate ready to switch with the plate of the waiting vehicle. The entire process takes less than two minutes.

Then, we hit the road again.

I sit back in the seat and fix my gaze on the road ahead. This is the part where it gets difficult. I hope that I’ve done enough to keep Meggie and Amber safe, but wars are never won on hope alone. I have to end the Fish’s life; it’s the only way to finish this because while he lives, there will always be that connection tethering them to him.

I call my sister on her cell phone.

“Gio?” I hear the mistrust when she says my name.

I rarely call her, and she gave up checking in on me a long while ago. But we both know that Mario has her phone bugged, which means that if The Fish is using my family to pin me down, this will make me an easy target.

“I thought about what you said in LA, Bianca.”

“Which part?” She might be suspicious, but there will be a small part of her that still hopes for us to be a family again. Enough to make her hear me out anyway.

“The part about coming home for the summer.”

Pause. “What’s brought this on?” She’s walking. A door clicks shut behind her. She doesn’t want anyone to overhear our conversation.

I have to keep it believable. Bianca knows me too well to buy into false promises of sentimentality and family loyalty. “I’ve met someone.”

The silence on the other end of the call is tangible. “Someone?”

“She’s different from all the others. You always said that I would know, and youwere right.”

“I knew there was something different about you when I saw you in LA.”

Her tone is lighter, and I wonder if this is the news that she has been waiting for. Maybe she has been pinning all her hopes on me settling down one day with a woman who will remind me of the importance of family.

“Who is she? Do I know her?”

“You’ll have to be patient a little longer. I just wanted to give you a heads-up.”

I can almost see her smile. “I’m glad you did, Gio. Does Enzo know?”

Is that a loaded question? Has our little brother already told her about Meggie, or has he been keeping his distance from her too?

“No, and I’d like it to stay that way.”

I end the call. I’ll know within twenty-four hours if Enzo tells her about his trip to the zoo with Meggie and Amber. My sister might be all about family loyalty, but she won’t be impressed when she finds out that the woman I want to spend the rest of my life with has a little sister that she’s raising single handedly. Bianca will slide into full-on prenup mode and claim, loudly, that she’s doing it to protect me.

My next call is to my casino. I keep it concise, ask the same questions I would normally ask, give nothing away.