In Too Deep

Seventeen

•
•
•
•

Her hands shook. Despite wanting to appear calm, her entire body was shaking. The horrifying images flipped through her mind, reminding her exactly who she was dealing with.

Ghost—no, Vicious. That was his name.

You will find that killing someone has an oddly calming effect.

Shaken to her very roots, all Nova could do was sit and tried to breathe normally. Was that what he had felt? Calmness? No sense of remorse? Guilt? Her lungs seemed to have seized up while her heart was thundering against the fear that had wrapped itself tightly around her chest.

"Enjoyed the view?"

The words sounded loud to Nova and held her trapped as she whirled around to stare at the man standing by the door, looking the epitome of evil in his dark clothes and a cigarette sitting in between his fingers, a glint in his eyes.

"You look like you've seen a ghost." Mario gave a sly smirk. "Or maybe you just saw the ruthless side of my cousin. He does earn his name, don't you think? Vicious?"

"I don't know what you're talking about." Nova breathed out slowly.

His laugh was firm and explosive. It called her a liar. "Word of advice? Stay away from Vic. You saw what he did. That is the kind of man he is. Cruel. Ruthless. He has no problem taking a life. Is that the kind of man you want to be around with?"

"You act like I have a choice in this. I have a debt on my head." She lowered her eyes to the ground while she tried to decide how she felt about seeing the darker side of Vicious she hadn't seen before. She didn't like it at all. Her mind threw up a picture of him standing over Grant while he bashed his head in. Bile rose in her throat.

"Your brother's debt, not yours."

What everyone liked to remind her. She looked up again, not wanting to continue this line of discussion. "You want me to let my brother die, knowing that I could have saved his life? Would you do the same for G–Vicious?"

"Nah. I'll protect him cause that's what families do, right? And I know something else too, Nova. You like this. You like playing with danger, so it doesn't matter if you have a choice or not," Mario thrust the words at her like a fisted punch. "Once you had that taste, you want more."

Opening her lips to let fly with a heated answer, Nova flailed for a second and closed her lips again. She didn't have to justify herself to him. After all, why should she defend herself when Mario would always try to see her in a negative light? Ever since she began working for them, he made her into a scapegoat.

"I don't like you, and I don't trust you, but once you find yourself tangled up in thorns, there's no way out," he stated contemptuously. "Once you're in too deep, there's no coming back from it. Is that what you want for yourself? A life of crime?" he punched again.

"I don't want anything. I want to save my brother, that's what I want. Vicious doesn't want to let me go, Mario," she cried out, pale as a paper because everything he had said was partially correct. "If you can find a way to get me to meet his boss—tell him what Vicious is doing to me, he can help me." If he knew Ghost was taking advantage of her situation, he would revoke their deal, and she would go back to arranging what they owed the gang.

Mario snorted. "His boss? Who fed you that bullshit? Vic is the boss, and he would only let you go when he feels like it, which won't happen any time soon because he sees something in you. You represent something good, something innocent. Vicious wants to corrupt that."