Sweet Pain (Amatucci Family #3) - Sadie Jacks Page 0,110

I really don’t want to find out that Corrie knows any more of the victims.”

My mom’s face paled. She nodded. “Corinne, let’s go. We’ve got to meet Dad for lunch. Say goodbye to your saviors. I’m sure you’ll be seeing more of them in the future.”

Corrie pouted but she didn’t put up a fight. Mas made her entire year as he came back over and helped her to her feet. “Be careful, piccola sorella.” He smiled at her.

I could have sworn I heard the little hearts popping over her head as she turned towards mom. I rolled my eyes. Girls were so weird. She was moony over the assassin. Granted, she didn’t know that’s what he was, but still. I did. It was creepy.

I opened the door for them.

Mom wrapped her arm around Corrie’s shoulders. “Bye, Ryker.”

“Bye, bug. See you soon.” I kissed her hair.

Mom and Corrie left. I watched them walk down the hall into reception. Heard the ding of the elevator.

“Well, now that we have outside confirmation of at least one of the victims being from New Trenadie, let’s go upstairs and see what shitshow awaits us there.” I pulled Willow under my arm, started for the elevators.

She wrapped her arm around my waist. “I’m glad I got to meet her. Although, it was a good thing you introduced her when you did. I was about to shoot both of you for touching another woman.”

I choked. “What? Seriously?”

She nodded. “All I saw was you ecstatic about another woman in your arms.” She pinched my butt. “Not allowed.”

I shook my head. “Never.” I shuddered at the thought. “Corrie’s allowed to hug me, but that’s about it. She gets more leeway than Mom does.”

Willow nodded. “As long as they’re related to you, I should be fine. But outside of that…target practice.”

I chuckled as we hit the reception area. I hit the button for the private elevator. Waited for everyone else to climb aboard before I had us going up. It was going to be a long freaking day.

**

I stood in the doorway after the police left. Just the standard spiel about the city not being responsible for the damage and that the investigation was now open and being pursued. I wanted to chuck them off the balcony.

Willow’s arms slid around me from behind. “You okay, hero?” she asked softly.

I slid my hands over hers. Sighed. “I will be.” I turned around, pulled her into my arms. “How are you?”

She shrugged. “I’ve got you. Everything else is replaceable.”

I smiled. “And you think I’ve got cheese.”

She snickered. “Seriously. The rest of this…” she waved a hand at the destroyed penthouse, “it’s just stuff. Even if it was a one of a kind, we can replace it with something else. You, my dear sir, are irreplaceable.”

“But your table.” I looked at the destroyed piece of functional art.

“I’ll commission a bigger one. Make Rafe really moan and groan like a pansy.”

“I heard that,” the man in question said as he picked through the broken plates and cups for ones that were still whole.

Willow smiled.

“Uh, you guys are going to want to see this,” Nico said from the bedroom.

I heaved a sigh. The damage to the bedroom made my stomach turn. I wasn’t sure I wanted to go back in there. Just the idea that Willow could have been hurt, taken, or worse, made me want to rage until I was sick.

We walked into the bedroom. Nico was nowhere to be found. “Bathroom,” he called.

We entered the bathroom. I looked around. My quick visual sweep revealed nothing to be concerned about. I turned to Nico. “What do we need to see?”

He pointed into the mirror.

I looked at it. Saw the shower. “Yup. We call those showers. You use them to clean yourself.”

He rolled his eyes. “Come stand here, smart guy. Willow, you too.”

We moved to his side. I looked in the mirror again. Felt my blood freeze.

In the reflection, there were two perfect outlines of me and Willow on the shower wall. Some kind of soap? Above our heads A LIFE FOR A LIFE was written in reverse. It read correctly in the mirror’s reflection. Just below the line of Willow’s head was another line of text that I couldn’t make out. I squinted, leaned forward.

“Tell the Amatuccis we’re coming,” Nico said. “It seems that even though Anthony and Antonia were fighting amongst themselves, Daddy is still pissed we killed his daughter while protecting ourselves.” Nico clapped a hand to my shoulder. “Consider this your