Becoming the Street Boss - Hayley Faiman Page 0,115

everything about her in a split second?

PIPPA

Massimo dips his chin, his eyes focused on mine—intently.

“If it will haunt you, then no.”

His words are so matter of fact, so simple that I freeze in my spot, answering my unspoken questions. Wondering if this will haunt me. That simple word—karma—that haunts me.

I wonder if it’s going to come back for me, if more bad shit is going to be thrown at me, the moment I take this bitch’s life.

“Karma,” I whisper.

Massimo slides his fingers down my arm, wrapping his hand around the knife’s handle. I slip my fingers from his. I can’t do it. I want to do it. I can practically taste the desire to end her on my tongue, but that little thing, that little word—karma, hangs in the air, taunting me.

It doesn’t bother Massimo though. He takes a step forward, bending down slightly, his gaze connecting to Erin’s. I watch as he lifts the knife, placing the blade against her neck right where Gavino held it a while ago.

“Your loyalties were misplaced, as were Brando and Roman’s,” Massimo murmurs.

She licks her lips before they curl up into a smile. “No, they weren’t. My loyalties were to the man that I loved. That can never be misplaced.”

“He abused you,” Mia whispers.

Erin shrugs a shoulder. “You may see it that way, but it’s because you didn’t open your mind to him. He was perfection. Nobody understood him the way that I did.”

“So, he brainwashed you.” Mia snorts. “In the end, he’s killed you too.”

“So be it. I welcome sweet death so that I can be with him again,” Erin breathes as Massimo slides the knife across her neck.

Blood squirts out everywhere. It covers Massimo’s face and shirt, but he doesn’t seem fazed. He watches her, his eyes not leaving hers until they’re vacant.

“Is this over now?” I ask the quiet room.

Gavino chuckles, his eyes finding mine as his lips twitch into a smile. “I hope so, cara. You didn’t deserve an ounce of what happened to you. This is a clear case of people being—”

I open my mouth, interrupting him before he can finish his words. “This is a clear case of people being people. Obsessing, falling in misguided love, being greedy for that love and for the love of money. Betraying others to get ahead in life. It’s the way people are.”

Gavino nods his head. “It is, cara.”

“I just want to be happy. I could live in a cardboard box under the bridge as long as I was happy,” I admit on a whisper.

Massimo’s head swings over to me, his eyebrows lifting in surprise at my words. “Doubtful, but that’s sweet, dolcezza. I’ve seen how many pillows are on the bed, no way would a cardboard box suffice.”

The room erupts into laughter. Something light and airy enters the space and we all inhale a deep breath before we let it out with a whoosh. The heaviness of before is gone, the anger, it’s disappeared.

It feels, good, and for the first time in five years, I finally feel… happy.

Epilogue

ONE MONTH LATER

PIPPA

I smooth my dress down, turning to the side to look at my reflection. Something catches the corner of my eye in the reflection. Massimo is leaning against the doorjamb of my closet, his eyes sliding down my body, pausing on my hands at my middle before they move down to my feet.

“I’m glad you claim to like curves, because I’m getting them,” I huff.

His gaze flicks up to meet mine just as I turn to look at him from over my shoulder. I watch as his lips turn up into a grin.

“Dolcezza, you look amazing. You know that you do, am I not showing you enough?” he asks, pushing off of the jamb as he makes his way into the closet.

My breath hitches when he slides his hands around my hips, turning me to face him fully. Tipping my head back, I slide my arms up his chest, curling my fingers around his shoulders, holding on to him as he tugs my body flat against his own.

“Massimo,” I whisper.

He grins, dipping his chin, his mouth brushing mine. “Pippa,” he responds, his fingers curling in my dress as he hikes it up my thighs.

“We have to go to the party, we’re going to be late,” I groan.

He hums against my lips, one of his hands leaving my skirt to slip beneath my panties and dive between my legs. Ripping my lips from his, I let out a long moan as his