ella

old wood, lemon polish, and suffocating stillness. It was a gilded

was asleep before his head hit the pillow, his small h

edgehammer's vibration. I crossed to the ensuite bathroom, turned on the faucet, and let the cold water run over my raw skin. The sting was blinding, but I didn't flinch. I found an old first-aid kit beneath

, the white gauze already s

etters came out jagged, wavering from the pain. I paused, took a slow breath, and forced my hand to steady. This time, when

" I sai

r the paper. The movement made the gauze shift; a fresh spot of blood bloomed near my thumb. "I need

Specific agricultural fertilizers? Gallons of medical ethanol and untraceable chemical reagents?" She looked up at

was. The naive girl she had served was dead, buried u

my voice a flat, icy command

ears on the doorframe as I passed. The invisible line had been drawn. Maria swallowed ha

anked by two Moretti sedans. The convoy was supposed to take us

ffened overnight, but the bleeding had slowed. I c

gray blur of the highway. We were appr

e decay was the "Ghost of Gary"-a former rival Consigliere everyone thought was dead. He held a black book, a ledger of sins that could black

to let them hav

ton, because the gauze made my fingertips numb- and pressed

the rearview mirror. "Miss Isabella, the Don's

" I repeated, m

breath before I could stop myself. "Isabella, please! Blackwater Creek is a graveyard. It's crawling

sh throb up my wrist. I locked eyes with the Capo in the mirror. The air in the cabin

lute certainty in my voice broke his r

Boarded-up storefronts and crumbling brick factories loomed ahead like rotting teeth against

ut, a dull ache radiating up to my elbows. The pain was a reminder.

ower in the distance. The board was set, a