"There's still one thing I'm a little...concerned about," Floren picked the lint off of his dirty Armani jacket sleeve.
"And what's that? You think Martolli's gonna sic his men on the newspaper company?"
"No, Val," Floren held his cousin's dark eyes. "I think Martolli's gonna sic his men on you."
It's been almost a month since Valentino Arlotti narrowly escaped the clutches of a neighboring crime family's most feared consigliere- Sebastiano Martolli. Now, with an escape trip to Europe lined up before him and his Mafioso cousins on the hunt to end Sebastiano's life, Val is certain he can finally relax.
However, much to Val's surprise and fear, disaster strikes again when a close family member of Val's is attacked by Martolli's gang and rendered into critical condition, initiating a cat-and-mouse game between Val and his enemies that stretches from a small Massachusetts town to the gaudy streets of Milan. As Val battles his opponents in hopes of abandoning his gruesome past forever, he will find himself faced with a matter of the future he never imagined encountering.
When Jane Madarang's neighbor Natalie kills herself and leaves behind cryptic instructions, it's up to Jane and her classmates to unearth deadly secrets.
*****
Natalie Driscoll is dead.
She threw herself out a window and left her neighbor Jane to unravel their town's darkest secrets. Following Natalie's instructions leads Jane to three other high school students who all have something to hide. The four of them must carry out Natalie's final errand while solving the mysteries written in her diary. But the secrets they unearth may be far more dangerous than what they ever imagined.
Content and/or trigger warning: This story contains scenes of suicide, violence and murder that may be triggering for some readers.
[[word count: 100,000-150,000 words]]