AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“No buts.”
The emotion hits like a tsunami, and a few tears that I can’t contain fall.
Rafael drags me against him, holding me like he’s never letting me go. “You’re safe from the worst of it, Angel.”
He presses a kiss to the top of my head, his mouth lingering in a gentle caress that seems to go on forever. It’s as joyous as his words. You’re safe.
“I can go out again, like a normal person?”
“If you mean like a normal person whose father is a crime boss, then yes.”
I feel his mouth curl.
“But let’s give it a couple of days before you start traipsing around town.”
I pull back so I can see his face. His jaw is tighter than it should be if the news were all good. “You’re still worried.”
“They’re going to make an announcement today, and after that we’ll have a better sense if the rats start to scurry deeper into the sewer or if one or two remain aboveground spreading plague.”
It’s like I’m on a carnival ride, at the low point after the giddiness of the descent. “So they didn’t get all of them?”
“It appears they got everyone of consequence.”
“Appears,” I repeat softly, stepping back, because it’s impossible to think about the ramifications in the safety of his arms.
“Russo’s confident.”
“But you’re not?”
He pulls me between his legs until we’re nose to nose. “I have a lot to lose by being overconfident. I won’t take that risk. For now, I’m taking a more cautious approach.”
I have a lot to lose by being overconfident. He means me. Ordinarily I would spend too much time overthinking the meaning behind his words—the sentiment—and maybe later I will, but right now—
“Russo said that the charts you made have been a great resource for them. They’ll also help ensure that all the families are notified.”
“Doesn’t Interpol have a list of victims’ families?”
“There was a mole at Interpol—at least one,” Rafael sneers. “He buried information. I don’t think anyone knows how much or the nature of what was lost.”
Bastards. I blamed myself, but maybe this was why they ignored my emails. I’m sure the mole found a permanent underground home, or rather, someone found it for him. “Let me guess. Russo can’t tell the families that Interpol had a traitor.”
Rafael shakes his head. “He cannot.”
“Have you spoken with my father?” He’ll never relax when it comes to my safety, but at least he’ll be relieved that I’m no longer in imminent danger.
“After I speak to Tamar, I’m going to call him. Russo mentioned that he was helpful in bringing those fuckers to justice.”
Bringing justice to them is more like it. Thank God. I think about Francesca, who was just a girl, and about the woman in Oslo I was too late to save—and all the others. And I think about this beautiful man, right here, who risked his life to protect me. If something had happened to him… I push the thought away. It’s heart-wrenching to think about. I hope every bastard involved, in any aspect of it, suffered terribly—for hours, days even. If that makes me a vile human being, so be it.
I peer up at Rafael and ask a question that is beyond all boundaries in our world. A question my father would never indulge—not even from my mother. But I’m desperate to know. Desperate for vengeance.
“Were the bastards tortured before they took their final breath?” If my father, or Antonio, or Rafael were leading the charge, I wouldn’t need to ask. But Russo is a politician, and in the end, he might have done what was politically expedient.
Rafael narrows his gaze but doesn’t say anything. Just when I’ve given up hope of a response, he takes firm hold of my hips. “They got the end they deserved on the order, or perhaps at the hand, of a distraught father. Don’t ask for more, because I don’t have details, and even if I did, it’s not something I would ever share.”
“Because I’m a woman.”
He shakes his head. “No. Because I’m a man bound by honor. You know this.”
