One moment of tenderness I didn't ask for. Didn't deserve.
She cracked something open inside me and now I can't close it again.
I press the heels of my hands against my eyes.
Breathe.
Just breathe.
The tears don't fall. I won't let them.
But they're there. Waiting. Patient.
Like they've been waiting for years.
I drop my hands. Stare at the empty hallway ahead.
Pietro is waiting. There's a situation that needs handling. A test I need to pass.
I can't fall apart now.
I won't.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Bruno
Iwheel myself through the entrance of the warehouse, past two of our men standing guard. They nod as I pass.
The main floor is mostly empty.
Pietro stands near the center of the space. Nico beside him. Both watching something—someone—in front of them.
I push forward until I can see.
A man hangs from chains bolted to a support beam. His arms stretched above his head. Wrists raw where the metal bites into skin. His feet barely touch the ground.
He's young. Maybe mid-twenties. Dark hair matted with sweat. Blood dripping from a cut above his eye.
One of the men who hit our shipment.
The only one we caught.
"What do we know?"
"Not much." Nico crosses his arms. "He was driving the second truck. The others got away clean. Professional job."
"Who sent them?"
"That's what we need to find out."
I wheel closer to the hanging man. He lifts his head. Looks at me.
His eyes widen slightly when he sees the wheelchair.
Then he laughs.
"This is who you brought?" He spits blood onto the concrete. "The cripple?"