murmured, continuing to scroll through the images. “Sounds like the kind of man we want on our payroll.”
“He’ll be dead by dawn,” she hissed. “There’s a mountain man living up there and we’re pretty sure it was him.”
“A mountain man?” I laughed as I looked up at her. “Like a yeti?”
“No,” she snapped. “Like a crazed man who lives alone up in the mountains. He hasn’t caused us any issues before now but if it really was him who did this then he wrote his own fate. Even if it wasn’t, I’d prefer that mountain to be clear of anyone but my people. Men I can trust.
“Well, it is pretty embarrassing if a single man managed to steal a whole consignment from you,” I said, smirking down at the images as I flicked onto the final one. “Merda…” The last guy hadn’t just been executed, he’d been mutilated. Stabbed so many times I couldn’t count the wounds. There was so much blood all around his corpse that I couldn’t even see the snow beneath him. “Are you sure it was about the drugs? Because this shit looks personal.”
I handed the iPad back to Clarissa and she clucked her tongue as she looked down at the photograph. “It looks amateur to me,” she said dismissively and she was right about that, which didn’t marry up to the other corpses at all.
I didn’t think she had one killer here. She had two. And whoever had done that had felt every single swing of that blade with a hatred so pure that it had been cutting them open too. That was the real reason for this hit. Not stealing drugs. Which meant the pro had helped orchestrate the whole thing purely to give this killer the chance to take out this guy.
“Who was he?” I asked, pointing at the corpse.
“Quentin Renny. One of my most trusted men up there. His death won’t go unpunished. Anyway, that’s not your concern. How quickly can you arrange for the cartel to make up this shortfall?” Clarissa asked, locking her iPad and clearly moving on from the part of the conversation which interested me most.
“I’ll have it sorted today,” I assured her, my mind fixing on those photographs. There was something about them which just didn’t add up to me. And I wanted to look into it myself.
If my instincts were right then I might just be onto something here. So it looked like I had a mountain man to investigate.
I lay on the couch with my arm behind my head and my heavy lidded gaze resting on Winter’s small form where she was curled on the floor by the wall. I couldn’t sleep. My lips still tasted of her and my body was still humming from that kiss. But now I had to lay here and look across the room at her where she was sleeping on the floor instead of holding her in my arms. It was infuriating, but I understood. Whatever had possessed her to kiss me had been short lived. The blazing flame of a freshly struck match which burned out almost as quickly as it was lit. I wasn’t surprised when she’d remembered herself, remembered me, and pulled away again. But now I couldn’t tear my gaze from her, wondering if my decision to send her back down the mountain and away from this place really was for the best. Or maybe I was just being selfish. Maybe now that I’d had a brief glimpse of something more than this lonely existence, I just didn’t want to settle back into it. Maybe I was looking for someone to save me too.
I sighed as I pushed myself to sit up, scrubbing a hand down my face as, for the first time since I’d come up here to this hidden shelter in the mountains, I considered leaving. This cabin was no place for anyone to have a life, but maybe, if I had some reason to want a life again, I’d be able to leave. Though I knew the moment I did, the Romeros would find me.
I didn’t turn my cellphone on often, but whenever I did, there were always messages from Rocco. Messages that made my gut twist and my heart pound and the taste of bile fill my mouth as I fought to mesh the two people I was supposed to be into one. But it felt like an impossible task. How could I have been the Calabresi heir and the Romeros’