God of Pain novel · Chapter 11 of 24

Chapter 11: Count His Nights

I walked Maeve to her school, kissed the top of her head, and then I took the train to Hanover Street.

Tino's family owned the restaurant on the corner, a brick place with white tablecloths and a line of waiters in black vests.

At eleven in the morning it was closed.

The door opened anyway.

Inside, Tino sat alone at a round table by the window with a plate of eggs, reading the paper.

He looked up as I walked in, and smiled.

"Livia. Sit. Have you eaten?"

"I'm not staying."

"Of course you are."

I sat.

My heart was knocking against my ribs, but I kept my hands flat on the white cloth where he could see them.

Two men stood by the kitchen door and pretended to be furniture.

"Where is he?" I said.

"Who?"

"Don't."

"Reardon is resting." Tino folded his paper. "He had a long night. You'd be surprised what a man can get through, with the right motivation."

"What did you do to him?"

"Me? Nothing. I'm the kindest man you'll ever meet."

He cut his egg into small neat squares.

"I lent a dying child sixty thousand dollars for a new heart," he said. "I never once sent a collector to her door."

My stomach turned over.

"You hold it over him."

"I hold nothing. I reminded him, gently, that families like his stay alive by being useful."

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