I shouldn't have let the cutest aide in the world down. Promised her dinner after the sit-down, but business got in the way, and I made her wait a whole ten minutes. Totally my fault. I'll do better from now on, be a good boss.
I liked the post. Let him see that. Let him wonder how I found it and what I thought and whether he should come out of his study and say something. Let the wondering sit in his chest the way seven years of silence had sat in mine.
In the same breath, I received a notification from Salvatore: the arrangement, laid out in terms that any family lawyer would recognize. My skills, my knowledge, my loyalty, transferred to the Mancini operation in exchange for protection, compensation, and a life that didn't require me to bleed on a sidewalk while the man I loved drove past.
I clicked the link and signed without hesitation.
My thumb pressed against the inside of my ring finger. The bare skin where a ring had never been. Seven years, and he had never once offered. I pulled my hand away and set the phone down.