"The damage was done the moment our eyes collided."
~Xavier De Luca
***
One life-altering night ignites a soul-scorching passion between a gangster and a good girl...One that could burn everyone they know and love to ashes.
Loyalties and legacies...
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I'd escaped to the bathroom after my embarrassing fall by assuring Detective Nowak and the waitress fussing over me that I'd be fine once I cleaned up.
Only I wasn't fine. I was quite possibly on the verge of a panic attack!
My lungs ached from the sobs I'd been forcing down and there was a nasty scrape on my knee. It throbbed for attention while I splashed cold water on my splotchy face.
Gannon was last seen alive at a place called The Landing Strip, which also happened to be where Natalia Kavka, worked.
I'd looked it up on my phone and Detective Nowak was right, it wasn't the kind of place I'd want to go to. Ever.
The businesses surrounding it on Google Maps appeared dingy and dangerous. There were at least two bail bonds places alongside a liquor depot that looked like the last place a lot of people were probably seen alive.
It was obvious that my brother had a whole other side of his life that I wasn't privy to. Gannon probably kept it a secret for the same reason he'd sworn Laoise to secrecy. It was dangerous and someone could get hurt.
Well, someone did get hurt. Someone I loved more than life itself!
Detective Nowak may not have had much luck talking to the De Lucas, but I happened to be on a first-name basis with one of them.
I hadn't seen Xavier since our one crazy night of passionate bliss, and he hadn't made any efforts to contact me since then. That didn't bode well for when I managed to somehow track him down. How I thought I was going to get him to answer my questions was beyond my reasoning, but I knew I had to try.
Then, goosebumps tickled my neck.
A slight breeze gusted from the bathroom's only window, showing me a tiny slit just big enough to fit someone my size.
While weighing the opportunity, my phone buzzed urgently inside my purse. I unzipped the vegan leather top and reached inside to peek at the screen. Cillian's photo smiled up at me on the caller ID.
So, I sent it to voicemail.
My phone went off again before I had a chance to put it back. It was my Uncle Rob that time. So, I sent that to voicemail too.
Then, the texts started. A whole freaking barrage of them.
My heart broke into a gallop, pounding my ribcage like it was trying to escape as my brow tightened with determination. I glanced at the window once more and switched off my phone to drop it in my purse.
It was an old building with razor wire in the windows, but the rickety wood frame opened just enough for me to squeeze my boobs through (which was no small feat when you're an extra full C-cup).
The dismount was super-duper awkward, and I managed to scuff myself worse than I did in my earlier fall. Of course, my flirty light blue denim sundress didn't help.
