Chapter 2: The Man Who Bought My Death Lives Here

The doctor pulled the last stitch through my shoulder while my phone rang for the sixth time. Mother. I told her I was safe, but not who had shot me. I couldn't explain that I'd known the gunman online for three years, and that he still called me Mistress.

Luca knew my voice. If he heard it in person, a locked door and a paid truce would mean nothing. At home I practiced speaking in a lower register. The name Vee stayed out of my mouth.

Tessa met me in the kitchen. She was our driver's grown daughter. Once she had copied my voice from the hallway so perfectly I'd answered myself. I played her an old message to Luca. She repeated every pause, including the way I said good boy.

"Meet him for me," I said. "Tell him Vee wants to break up. Make it clear he shouldn't come looking."

"He hasn't seen your face?"

"No. He mustn't." I showed her the payment on my phone. "One conversation. That's all I'm buying."

Tessa glanced at the bandage. "Did he do that?"

"Yes." My answer didn't change her mind. She took the money.

I signed her into my chat account on her phone, keeping it open on mine. She wouldn't have to guess what we'd said to each other. I could see what she sent. "Tell me when you're done."

"I'll handle it." She left through the back door. I watched until it shut. If she stumbled over one detail, Luca would ask questions I wasn't ready to answer.

That evening Tessa texted: He believed me. It's over.

I bolted my bedroom door anyway. Downstairs, Mother argued with Miles, the son she'd raised while I was gone. I couldn't make out the words. He'd hugged me for the guests at my welcome dinner. Who else in her house had been standing close enough to put a price on my life?

The next afternoon a floorboard creaked outside my room. Somebody tried the handle. I reached for my phone with my good arm; the door opened before I could call anyone.

Luca stepped in, gun raised. I hit the wall behind my bed.

"Put it down," I snapped.

His finger left the trigger. He looked at my bandage. "Wrong door. I was looking for the man who paid me."

"You found the woman you shot." I dropped my voice. "Tell me his name."

A thought sounded inside my head: That sounded like Vee. No. She broke it off last night. This is the Bellini girl.

"Miles Bellini," Luca said. "Your brother. I followed his payment here."

My hand slipped on the phone. Miles had smiled at me beneath the chandeliers. He'd waited for me to look away before he tried to kill me.

"My adopted brother," I said. "Get out of my bedroom."

Luca lowered the gun. "I promised a name. Now you have it."

"Go find Miles. Make sure he can't send someone else." My tone came out like a command to my good boy. His eyes narrowed. I added, deliberately flat, "I paid you to deal with the man who hired you."

"Do we know each other?"

"You shot me yesterday. That's enough." I held the door with my good hand until he stepped out, then slid the bolt home.

I called Mother and asked where Miles was. She said he'd gone out. I could warn him that Luca knew; I chose not to. When I checked the chat app, there was no new message from my supposed ex-boyfriend. Tessa had probably told the truth. I wanted one thing in my life to be finished.

An hour later Mother called. "Miles is in the hospital. Someone beat him. Where are you?"

"In my room. Is he alive?"

"Yes. I'm going to him. Don't leave the house."

For one breath I believed I was safe. Miles couldn't come after me from a hospital bed, and Luca had completed the job I paid for. I touched my shoulder and winced. Nothing about being safe would undo his first job.

My phone lit with a message in Vee's chat. From Luca: Mistress, was I good today?

I held it until the screen went dark. I didn't answer.