She Fainted at the Mafia Boss’s Feet, and the Bruises Under Her Sleeve Made Him Ask Who He Had to Destroy

Dean lay gasping on the linoleum, his hands wrapped around his ribs, tears of pain mixing with the sweat on his pale, greasy face. "Mr. Pierce... please... I work for Jimmy! I've been loyal! I bring in the interest every month!"

"Jimmy Vane no longer has a sector," Jonah said coldly. "And you no longer have a future in this city."

Jonah turned his back on the groveling man and walked over to Stella. He looked down at her, his expression softening just an inch. "Is there anything in this room you want to keep?"

Stella looked around the pathetic, trash-strewn apartment. She looked at the peeling wallpaper, the stained couch, the broken kitchen table, and the man whimpering on the floor who had made her life an agonizing nightmare for three years.

"No," she said. Her voice was quiet, but for the first time in years, it didn't shake. "There’s nothing here."

"Good," Jonah said. He turned back to Wyatt. "Clear out his pockets. Take his keys, his books, and his phone. He has thirty minutes to pack one bag and get out of New York. If he is seen south of Westchester after midnight, treat him as an intruder on Pierce property."

"Mr. Pierce, please!" Dean sobbed, trying to crawl forward on his knees. "I have nowhere to go! Stella, tell him! Tell him I took care of you!"

Stella took one slow step forward, standing beside Jonah’s towering frame.

She looked down at Dean—at his terrified, watering eyes, his trembling hands, his complete and total lack of the terrifying power he had wielded over her in the dark kitchen hours before. Stripped of his violence against someone smaller than him, he was nothing. He was just a small, pathetic parasite.

"You didn't take care of me, Dean," Stella said, looking him dead in the eye. "You used me as a shield. And now you have nothing left to hide behind."

She turned her back on him and walked out into the hallway.

Jonah lingered for a brief second. He leaned down over Dean, his face inches from the terrified man’s ear. "If you ever look for her, if you ever utter her name to anyone on the street, I will not send Wyatt. I will come myself. Do you understand me?"