Kill Order Kiss Novel Chapter 07

Kill Order Kiss Novel Chapter 07

Silence from Dante lasted exactly forty-seven days

I counted. Not because I was waiting, but because I was a researcher, and researchers track patterns His

pattern was escalation: first gifts, then presence.

The call came on a Tuesday night. Unknown number, American area code. I almost didn’t answer, but something-instinct, masochism, the ghost of a girl who once loved him-made me press accept

“Valentina.”

His voice hit me like a physical thing. Low, rough, stripped of the usual confidence. He sounded like a mant calling from the bottom of a well.

I said nothing.

“I know you’re there. I can hear you breathing.”

Still nothing.

“I’m not going to ask where you are. I already know. I’m not going to ask you to come back. I know you won’t

A pause so long I thought the line had dropped.

“I need you to know-the order was never real. It was a play. Castellano demanded proof of loyalty, proof I had no outside vulnerabilities. I wrote it to satisfy him, but I never would have-” His voice cracked. “Val, I never

would have let anyone touch you.”

The audacity of it-the sheer, breathtaking audacity-made my vision blur.

“You wrote my name on a kill order,” I said, my voice barely above a whisper, “and you’re calling it a play?”

“It was the only way to protect you. If Castellano thought you were already handled-”

“Then what, Dante? You’d keep me hidden somewhere like a dirty secret while you married his daughter? Visit me between family dinners? Was that the plan?”

Silence.

“Was it?”

“I was going to get you out,” he said quietly. “I had a plan. You were supposed to go to your sister’s for a few days, and I’d arrange-”

“You had a plan,” I repeated. “A plan you didn’t tell me about. A plan that involved writing a death order with my name on it and leaving it in your jacket like a grocery list. A plan that required me to be completely in the dark while you played God with my life.”

“I couldn’t tell you. If Castellano’s people were watching-”

“Then you should have let me go before you took me to bed that night! Before you looked me in the eyes and said you loved me! Before you made me believe-”

I stopped. Pressed my hand over my mouth. I would not cry for him. Not again.

“Valentina, please-”

“Don’t call me again.”

“Val-”

“Every time you contact me, I send the order to one more person. I’m up to fourteen copies now. How many do you think it takes before one reaches the FBI?”

Dead silence.

“Goodbye, Dante.”

1 hung up, turned off the phone, and sat in the dark for a very long time.