Page 94 of No Sweeter Poison

I return my attention to Montenegro. “What happened after?”

“I don’t know. Nando had a talk with her and made me leave the room. Then, a few weeks ago, she came to see us again and showed us a picture of a woman—the woman we saw in your car that night. She wanted us to confirm who she was.”

My blood runs cold.

“She told us we had to hide out in Italy for a few weeks and then she would come for us!”

I make my way out of the water and Montenegro jiggles back and forth in his chair. “Please, all I did was look at the picture! She promised that if I told her the truth, she’d protect—”

Without looking back, I remove the pistol from my belt and fire a single bullet. A second later, the screaming stops.

“Get me a on plane. Now!” I shout. “And get my fucking brother on the phone before somebody gets their lungs ripped out!”

Two men in the back spring into action while the other two go to fish Montenegro’s body out of the water. Most important lesson my father ever taught me was to never leave a trail of bodies behind or my footprints would always give me away.

“What about him?” Vincenzo kicks Ibanez in the gut.

“Don’t worry.” I kneel beside him. “I have something special planned for this one.”

H unting knives have never been my preferred weapon of choice but I can wield one whenever the occasion calls for it.

The edge of the blade cuts a smooth line across Ibanez’s lower abdomen and when he screams, I think of the way Dahlia screamed when the car spun out of control. The fear on her face when a bullet went through my shoulder and all the others rained down on us like a category five. And then I think of how Ibanez and his cronies did it on purpose.

Takes the edge off of having to dig into his fleshy gut in search of his intestines.

Once I have the large one wrapped around my fist, I yank it out far enough that it hangs in long tendrils across his lap.

Shark sightings aren’t common in Italy. Not unless you know where to look.

They’re deep-water creatures with a taste for blood and it doesn’t take long for the water to ripple with their presence. I grab the rope around Ibanez’s wrists and ankles, slice them in half, and with one clean punch across the jaw he goes spinning—right off the back of the boat and into the water where his fate awaits him.

THAN THAT OF TRUE LOVE

Dahlia

D iego staggers back several steps, eyes bulging out of his face, as he wraps a hand around his middle and struggles to catch his breath.

“I’m sorry!” I exclaim. “You said to give it all I got!”

Lettie glances at us over the rim of her newspaper with a barely there smile. “Nice kick.”

I gasp and spin around. “Really?”

“Yeah sure, don’t mind me,” Diego rasps as he lowers himself to the bench behind him. “Totally fine over here.”

The indoor gym never held much interest for me but I needed a new hobby a few weeks ago. Gardening, horseback riding, shopping, all things that I tired of too easily. I needed something new to sink my teeth in and when Diego offered to teach me self-defense, I happily took him up on the offer.

I wasn’t working out to lose weight but I certainly feel stronger and sturdier than I did before. According to Diego, most of my strength is in my hips (he says I have noodle arms) so much of what’s been teaching me has been focused on the legs and what they’re capable of. Unfortunately for him, I think I just kicked the shit out of him.

I open the first aid kit and activate an ice pack by popping it in my hands. Diego takes it and puts it right under his ribcage where my kick landed. He wasn’t ready for the hit and it caught him off guard. Still, my chest swells with pride knowing I was able to defend myself against someone twice my size.

“Are we done? I want to get washed up for dinner.”

Diego and I both cut Lettie a look. “You didn’t even do anything,” he says.

“The air, it’s…” She waves a delicate hand, her pointed nose crinkling. “Dirty. I want to shower before it sinks into my pores. I just had a hydrofacial done.”

Diego and I exchange a look before he shrugs and gets up. We file out of the gym together, me flicking the lights off before the door closes, and we head upstairs.