phin

so Estate was an exercise

eilings painted with frescoes of dubious artistic merit, gold-leafe

. It smelled of cordite, metallic blood, and the cloying,

h glass clinked like a rhythmic death knell. He looked smaller than he had on the steps. The bravado

ered from the velvet sofa. She was clutching a string of Sou

mud and blood staining the

a monster that had crawled out of a nightmar

to kill you

peaks and valleys of human emotion. I stood in the cent

them easy targets. The driveway is a kill zone with no secondary barriers. I

these years?" Giovanni

He was looking at me now, his mind clearly w

ter who could single-handedly repel an as

ou were raised in a quiet orphanage in the Swis

you can sleep at night," I replied, meetin

nswers to, Giovanni. You wanted a daughter. Y

ar end of the salon swung open wi

flawlessly dressed in a cream-colored designer pantsuit, her dark hair sleek

eighteen years warming the sea

e scene with the cold, calculating eyes of a girl

he floor, then at her trembl

turns," Bianca said, her voic

and poured herself a glass of sparkling water. "An

eaded, her voice cracking. "S

er eyes raking over my tactical boots and the co

on, only the sharp, jagged edge of a rival w

men. We don't need a feral stray turning our front yar

of the Cistern-the cold, dead weight of the Island-bleed into the air between us. She physica

he first shot was fired," I whispered, my

, Bianca. I am not here for

e mob princess in your ivory tower. Cross me, and

won't like the colo

ad pride, but the slight, nervous tremor in her hand as she

ching us with a mixture of awe and fea

point of the grounds and

als' that if they approach my door without anno

who had realized he was no longer the