Chapter 5: The Debt

Rocco took me to the basement armory at noon, because he said he couldn't stand watching me wear that vest one more minute.

It was a long concrete room under the east wing, with a shooting lane at one end and steel lockers along the wall.

He closed the door and leaned against it.

"Take it off."

"No."

"Nerina. Take it off and let me look at it."

I took it off, mostly to see what he'd do.

He turned it over in his big hands, found a tag sewn inside the lining and read it.

"This vest expired fourteen years ago."

"It's a donation."

"It's soft armor from a closet. A kitchen knife would go through it."

"It's the only thing I had."

"It's the only thing you had," he repeated, and his voice changed.

He opened a locker, took out a black vest and held it up.

It was heavier, with real plates in front and back.

"Arms up."

I raised my arms, and he fitted it over my shoulders and pulled the straps tight at each side.

His knuckles brushed my ribs.

I felt every one of them through my shirt.

"Too tight?" he asked, not looking at me.

"I can breathe."

"Good. Breathing is on the rules list."

"It's not on the rules list."

"Add it."

I laughed.

It came out of me before I could stop it, and it startled both of us.

He glanced up, and for one moment he looked less like a Don's heir and more like a man in a basement.

"What?" he said.

"You're being nice."

"I'm being practical."

"You sneered at my beans last night."

"They were bad beans."

"They were safe beans."

"They're the same beans," he said. "I tasted one this morning, when you were asleep."

Keep reading free with an account. Start She Tried to Poison Me, but My Plant Died First! from Chapter 1, then sign up free to read the rest of this chapter.