Overkill: A Lou Thorne Thriller by Kory M. Shrum

Author:Kory M. Shrum
Language: eng
Format: epub

15

Someone was knocking on Konstantine’s apartment door. Lou rose up on her forearms, squinting into the dark.

“It’s only Stefano, come to talk business with me,” Konstantine said, pressing a hand to her forehead. “Rest, amore mio.”

Her eyes fluttered closed, and Konstantine hoped the medicine would be strong enough to send her off to sleep for several hours. She’d overdone it with the two hunts. Granted, they might not have been as physically demanding as those that ended in a kill, but she’d still been on her feet and had still used her gifts, which he suspected required more energy than Lou herself even realized.

When Konstantine reached the bottom of the stairs, Stefano was sitting on his sofa with one leg crossed over the other.

“Why knock if you were going to let yourself in?” Konstantine asked.

“I didn’t want to interrupt anything,” he said.

Konstantine expected to see a teasing look in Stefano’s eyes, but they were dark. Even gloomier than usual.

“What’s happened?” Konstantine asked.

“Someone overnighted a box to us.”

“What was in it?”

“One of our men,” Stefano said. “He’d been tortured. Fatto a pezzi.”

Konstantine suddenly didn’t want to sit. His stomach twisted. “Who?”

“Riccardo.”

Riccardo. He was barely a man. He’d been in Tokyo for six months. They were supposed to bring him home weeks ago but had decided to leave him at the last minute.

“Don’t blame yourself,” Stefano said.

Konstantine cared about his people. Stefano’s soft green eyes said he knew this.

Despite his disappointment with the outcome of the situation, there was no disdain in Stefano’s voice. No accusations. Only regret.

Stefano knew as well as anyone that sometimes even the best decisions led to bad results.

“Forgive me for overstepping your command, but I already told all of our people to leave Japan at once. Not just Tokyo. I didn’t want to waste time asking you,” Stefano said.

Konstantine nodded. “A good choice. Did they all make it out?”

“Yes. I’ve sent Diablo and his team to bring them home.”

“Good.” Konstantine crossed to the kitchen and pulled the coffee beans out of the cabinet. He plugged in the grinder, then checked the time. “Would you like a cappuccino or an espresso?”

“A cappuccino.”

“Sembra che hai visto un fantasma,” Konstantine said, and he spoke honestly.

Stefano was as white as a ghost.

“It was a fucking mess,” he said. “They made a mess of him.”

Stefano rubbed his brow.

“Mi dispiace che non sono potuto andare.” If Konstantine had been the one there, then he could have spared Stefano the horror.

Stefano waved him away.

But even before Konstantine could pour the coffee from the moka and offer the steaming cup to Stefano, his eyes were turning dark again.

“This is getting bad.” His eyes had flicked past Konstantine’s shoulders to the ceiling above. “You will have to ask her to save us, if it comes to it.”

“We will save ourselves,” Konstantine assured him, taking a seat at his desk and sipping his own cappuccino. He hoped the caffeine would not keep him awake when he wanted to return to bed with Lou soon. The truth was that she wasn’t the only one benefiting from the extra sleep.

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