Ruby La Rosa has been my subject for a lot longer than she’s known. Both her and her father. The truth is, the people who are after them are a lot worse than their mafia. And by the way I slipped into their family exactly to plan, I’d say that Victor would also know that by now.

“Ahh—” He touches the tip of his nose, finally shifting his body around to look at me.

Skully is not someone you want to make an enemy out of. Everyone knows that. But he is only one of the worst people you could meet. There is another who is just as bad. One who makes my skin itch any time I think about him. Or the fact that he can very well be the reason why Skully wants Ruby. Would I have brought her here if I had known that? I don’t know. “The famous question…” He pauses, and I hate when he does that. I’ve never seen him raise his voice. Never seen even a flash of anger on his face. Skully is completely void of showing any source of emotion, and for so long I’ve known I wanted to be trained in the way he trained me. Taught how to weaponize my emotions by showing none. Humans hate that. People hate when they want to get under your skin but know that they can’t.

“Just a question…” I edge closer, raising a brow at him. Skully has indented eye sockets so dark that he almost looks malnourished. It’s how he got his name. Skully. People here are known by nicknames. No legal names allowed. Except mine is my legal name.

“One you’re not ready for the answer to.” He claps his hands and stands from the bench, towering over me. I lean back, resting my arms on the edge of the chair. “Ruby La Rosa isn’t your concern anymore, Hangman. She is simply not your concern anymore.” He pats my shoulder and smiles tensely at me before moving through the aisle. I spin back around to see where he has gone when Poppy emerges, her eyes wide as if she’s searching for me.

I shoot up from the bench. “Pop?” She jogs down the aisle, swiping tears from her eyes. Before I can ask what’s wrong, she jumps into my arms and I catch her small body, pulling her into me.

“Len, we have to get Ruby out of there. This is a trap.”

I shake my head, pulling her back by her arms. “No, Poppy. No. For whatever reason she’s here, it’s important.” Poppy doesn’t know the extent of The Familia. I mean, she knows, but from birth I shaded her from a lot of evil that’s happened here, so in a sense she has been able to move through her life here without thinking twice.