Page 43 of Vicious Fall
I return her smile.
“Come to spring me from this joint?” I joke.
“Actually, I have.”
My head whips around so quick, a pain moves through my neck and I rub at it. “Are you for real?”
Lucia nods her head, “Yep,” she pops the last syllable. “We’re going to have a girls' day.”
What does a girls’ day with Lucia Costa entail?
A little worry moves through me but it isn’t enough to keep me planted on the couch as I get up and move toward the door. “What exactly are we going to do?” I ask her.
Her lips twitch but she gives a casual shrug of her shoulders. “We’re going to go eat, and then you’re going to come on a job with me.
My eyes widen.
Say what now?
“I’m going to help you kill somebody?” I ask her.
“I never said that, Winnie-Pooh,” she says, turning on her heels and leaving me with no option but to follow behind her.
A crease forms between my brows as I try to figure out how in the hell I’m going to join Lucia on a job. “I don’t… I don’t want to kill anybody,” I tell her. It’s already something I’ve had to do once and I did it because my life was in danger. I can’t do it again.
Amusement is bright in her eyes as she turns to look at me. “I can promise you won’t be killing anyone, Winter.”
“And what about you?”
“No promises.”
Despite my lapse in anger the other day,, I don’t have the will to be a killer. I can’t even manage to not regret shooting at Vito who has been absent lately. I can’t help but to wonder if maybe he’s purposely avoiding me and frankly I don’t blame him.
I’d almost killed him over something he hadn’t even done.
“Let's go, Winnie,” Lucia says, waving a hand.
I follow behind her and when we end up in the room she took me to the last time we went out, I look around at the array of outfits in the room. I have no idea who does all the shopping for the family, but I Imagine they maxed out whatever card they were using when buying my clothes.
I shuffle through the room, running my hands over a pretty red dress that’s hanging up. “What are we doing exactly?” I ask Lucia.
“Doesn’t matter” she says, waving a hand. “Just dress casual.” She props a foot up on the wall behind her as she pulls out her phone. Her brows pull together as she looks at something on the screen.
Since she clearly has no plans to help me, I move over to the clothes, taking them all in. I never get to pick what I want to wear these days, they’re all pre picked by The Costas. And if it weren’t for the fact that I’ve had to endure a lot of uncomfortable fits, it’d sound like an ideal situation, but some days the outfits just aren’t practical.
On those days, Giovanni is typically the one to pick the outfits and I know he does it on purpose. Putting me in heels so high I’d be able to see in Rapunzel’s tower if I wanted to. They leave my feet aching for days afterwards. He also makes sure to leave pieces of my skin that I’ve never been happy with are put on display and the clothes are usually tight enough that I can’t move with ease.
Vito typically only picks out my gowns and dresses for events. They’re always elegant, pricey, and flattering to my form in ways I never knew existed.
Maximo, of all people, usually picks my favorite outfits. The assortment from him is almost always comfortable and casual, flats, jeans, tank tops.
I take that initiative today, going with a pair of stretchy jeans that feel nice over my skin. I grab a simple black graphic tee and slide my feet into a pair of black chucks.
I stare down at the chucks, twisting my ankle one way and the other as I look them over. It looks seamless, like they haven’t been tampered with, but I can’t help but to look up at Lucia. “Do these already have a tracker in them?” I ask her.
She looks up from her phone, her lips twitching at the corners. “I don’t know.” She shrugs her shoulders and I suspect she’s lying.
Narrowing my eyes at her, I stuff my hands in my pockets. “Some friend you are.”