Page 2 of Deathless & Divided

God knew she didn’t have much left to give.

She could finally start college, maybe, but she didn’t even know what she wanted to study. Her brothers owned a dozen and one different businesses around Chicago to keep her busy working, but how long would that keep her interested?

She couldn’t be just Lily DeLuca in Chicago, Illinois. She couldn’t be just anyone here. Not a tourist or a traveler, not a pretty face in a crowd of people. No, she was Lily fucking DeLuca; the daughter of a turncoat, dead father and mother; a sister to rival Capos in the Chicago Mob. And while she didn’t want to think about it, her age made her a prime target for the Outfit to look at her for other reasons, too.

Christ, she should have fought Dino harder.

How long would it take before the Outfit took something else away from Lily that she loved?

“What is this place, anyway?” the cab driver called out the driver’s window. “S’not anything special to look at, girl.”

To him, it wouldn’t be.

To Lily …

It didn’t even matter.

She pushed up from the sidewalk, brushing off the legs of her skinny jeans.

“Nothing,” Lily said. “It’s nothing.”

CHAPTER ONE

The weight of a debt could crush a man. It was one of those things a person knew always followed close behind. It never really left, even if it seemed like it was gone.

Damian Rossi lived for a decade waiting to finally pay for the debt he owed. Dino DeLuca never once mentioned when Damian would be required to step up and answer for the dues he owed, but it still hung there … waiting like the anvil ready to fall.

“Come on over. It’s time to talk about paying up, Damian.”

Eleven words had never felt quite as heavy as those did.

For Damian, life was dominated by the mafia. Or rather, The Chicago Outfit. Being only twenty-seven-years-old meant Damian answered to everyone else before he ever got to give himself what he wanted. It didn’t matter that he had finally received his button—his in to the family—a little over a year ago. Nobody cared that Damian was just as made as they were in the Outfit. No, because he was still a fucking young gun to them.

If an older Capo needed an extra pair of hands and called on him, Damian had to go. If the boss wanted something from him, regardless of how seemingly unimportant it was, Damian needed to find it. It didn’t matter if he was running on four hours of sleep in three days, Damian didn’t get to make his own choices when it came to the Outfit.

The Outfit made those goddamn choices for him.

Always.

Most times, Damian didn’t mind. He chose the life, and he was good at it. But he also didn’t know anything different. After his mother and father died in an automobile accident when he was five, the only thing he had left was the Outfit and the people inside who raised him when his drunk aunt and uncle couldn’t.

“You owe me, D.”

Debts never went away in the mafia. They could disappear for a short time but someone always came back to collect, eventually. Damian supposed it was just his time to pay up. He didn’t exactly like that Dino hadn’t given him much of a reason why now was the time or how he could pay it back, but it just was.

That was how it worked.

Dino DeLuca’s home rested on a large estate of thirty well-protected acres outside of the city limits. After he’d been let in through the gate and parked his car, Damian pulled out a cigarette and lit up. He still had twenty-minutes before he needed to meet the Capo, after all.

“It’s windy for such a nice day.”

The voice came from the line of trees to Damian’s left. He turned on his heel in just enough time to see Dino emerge. The man swung a set of keys around his index finger and held a manila file with his other.

“Shit, make some noise, Dino.”

Dino chuckled. The sound surprised Damian considering Dino was serious in all things—business, family, and life. Lightheartedness and nonsense wasn’t in his game. Damian supposed he could understand that. He’d never been one for whims and fantasy, either.

“Aren’t you supposed to be the ghost?” Dino asked, his teeth flashing as he grinned.