Page 58 of Knot To Be
“I’m not important enough to start a war over,” the woman says quickly, tears of pain rolling down her weathered skin. She’s wearing too much makeup, and reminds me of a skeleton.
Worse, she’s still touching Verona, and that simply won’t stand.
There’s no soul in this body to set free, but I think I make a damn good attempt at ending her life.
“I suppose we’ll have to see if that’s true or not.”
Without another word, in between the bedsheet and wallpaper aisles, I snap her neck. It’s a damn sight better than she deserves, but beggars can’t be choosers.
“Oh shit,” Verona whispers, watching as I catch Rosalia’s aunt’s body and lift her into a bridal carry.
“Be a gem and open the door, would you? It’s right past the aisle you were just in.”
Whenever I’m in a building, I search for the exits. It’s simply good practice because you never know when you’re going to need to duck out.
My long legs eat up the distance to the exit, and Verona follows beside me. She’s taller than her stepsister, and just manages to keep up.
“We need to discuss how to get away from someone attempting to drag you out of a public place, Verona. I’m glad you got my attention by shocking the fuck out of me, but why didn’t you yell? I would have heard you.”
She cringes as she shoves open the door, and I’m thankful it’s not an emergency exit. Pulling a box with my foot, I push it into the open space of the doorway so it won’t shut completely behind us.
“My voice froze,” she admits, her dress tangling in her legs as she bites her bottom lip nervously. “It was all I could think of to push the remote control you left me. Did I hurt you?”
“You definitely got my attention,” I mumble, walking toward the dumpster. “If you’re in a public space, I want you to scream, drop your weight to the ground, kick and flair. Pretend you’re a toddler having a tantrum. Be too much trouble for them to take you, and get as much attention to yourself as possible. Why did you freeze?”
“That woman is the reason Rosa was raped by her father’s men,” Verona snarls. “I froze because she scares the fuck out of me. She’s a small degree of separation from my stepfather, and I just survived an attack from him.”
Goddamned it.Rosa and Verona are both going to need so much therapy.
“She died too fucking fast,” I sigh, tossing the alpha in question into the open dumpster like the trash that she is. Imake certain she doesn’t make it all the way in, because I want her to be found. Her arm flops out of the top, and there’s hair in view.
I need to tell Nico about the stand I just made. It may accelerate our plans, but I doubt he’ll be angry. We have a lot of people pissed at us, and Don Accetta will already be in line to get either his pound of flesh or cash.
Oh well, when in doubt, a photo of a body is worth a thousand words. I send it to Nico, smirking as he sends me a middle finger and a request to be debriefed when I get back.
“Why did you claim me as part of your pack?” Verona asks, pulling my attention as I tuck away my phone. “I don’t understand.”
“Don’t play dumb, Verona.”
Her eyes widen at the way I purr her name, and I decide I may not dislike her as much as I once thought. Her company is quiet but comfortable in the silence, and she tends to sing under her breath to the radio.
The holier than thou attitude she gives off must be a protection tactic, but it doesn’t do her any favors in our pack. We’ve had to rub elbows with a lot of people who think they’re better than us, and it grates on our nerves.
“Let’s finish shopping so you can set up her nest, even if it is just in the closet,” I say wryly, pulling open the door to allow her to enter first.
“Maybe I should shock you again,” she mumbles, returning to her abandoned cart. “I didn’t get to enjoy the flopping around you must have done.”
“A Domino doesn’t do anything so undignified,” I laugh.
It does cross my mind that never once did I think about ripping off the collar, but I refuse to think too hard about that.
“What’s next on your list?” I ask, brow raising.
“It’s hard to imagine the space without photos,” she admits, and I pull out my phone to procure those for her.
Dario sent me the listing on the drive over here, and I easily hand over my phone to her.
“Anything else?” I ask.
