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Put her to bed.

Kill-joy: *thumbs-up emoji*

A message appears as I close Killian’s thread.

Ben: You coming?

Tilting my head, I pour the boiling water into the black mug of jasmine white tea. My eyes scan the message multiple times as I blow on the steam.

Where?

Ben: To the bar! I’ve got a group here you might like.

He sends me a picture of three relatively attractive men and two smiling women. They’re all gorgeous—and my type, but my skin crawls. The idea of being near anyone right now—except the one assaulting my thoughts—isn’t what I want.

Another time.

Ben: Loser.

He’ll try again tomorrow.

Inhaling the soothing aroma, I kick up my feet on my desk, ready to settle in. If she’s not talking to me, I might as well get some work done.

It’s hours later, as the sun starts to break over the horizon. The sky turns from the deepest blue to a vibrant lavender as my computer beeps. Startled, I jerk awake and blink at the screen.

There, in big, bold letters, it says COMPLETE.

Cell after cell shifts, changes, as the numbers become letters. Down and down the columns flip. Then, words appear.

My brain stalls, processing too slow. When the bottom of the list ends, I drop back in my chair and rub my jaw.

It’s not Boston, like Maeve guessed correctly.

“It’s New York.”

8

BRIAR

Alessio De Luca, the capo of the Italian De Luca family, once our enemy, now family, strides into his office. Dressed in a smart black suit, with a bit of baby vomit on his collar, he’s not as tall as me, nor as thin as Killian, but he’s wide. Strong. It was rumored that upon being given the title of heir; he strung up three of Bruno’s men and hung them over the bridge.

I liked him instantly. But it’s much more fun to irritate his controlling tendencies.

Stopping at his desk, he leans forward on his fists, glaring at Killian to my side, then at me.

I smirk widely. He groans, dropping his head.

“Dio, there are two of you.”

I recognize the term from Valentina’s texts. I’ve been able to get a few out of her. Like she had never watched Transformers. That she hated the cold. And today, I finally learned her favorite color was pink, but recently became green.

“Dio, is that God in Italian?”

Lex rolls his amber eyes, combing his dark curls over his head. “Yes. Are you learning Italian now?”

“I might be.” I shrug.

He scoffs, “It’s not a simple overnight course.”