Krystal had her back turned, doing something with the iBoard, so Eva snuck a glance at the time on her phone. Crap. Twenty more long minutes. She’d planned to swing by Delmonico’s and pick up a platter of sashimi and a sesame kale salad for dinner. She also wanted to grab a ham and cheese brioche for Matthew’s breakfast. He’d texted that his flight had been bumped up, so he’d have to head straight to the airport in the early hours the next morning.
He’d promised that when he returned, he’d take an entire week off for a staycation and they could unwind and make love every day while the kids were at school.
She could hardly wait. She sighed and stretched languidly.
Krystal heard the sigh and shot her a sharp look.
“Mrs. White, did you have a question?”
She smiled. “No. But thanks for asking.”
Krystal turned her attention toward another victim. Heidi, the mother of one of Alessandra’s good friends.
Nikos grinned at her again. He held up his phone, keeping it below the level of the table. He was playing a video game. He mimicked a yawn and then scraped back his chair. All heads turned his way. He stood and held his phone up in the air. “Sorry. I just got a text. Emergency at the office.”
And with that he was gone.
Eva stared at his retreating back with undisguised jealousy. What the hell? Is that all it took? A fake emergency? He’d been playing a damn video game for God’s sake.
“As I was saying…” Krystal said in the front of the room, clearly annoyed.
For a split-second Eva felt sorry for her. After all, the woman’s entire life revolved around the annual school carnival. As soon as one year’s event was over, Krystal would send out emails about what they would do the following year. Planning for the event began six months ahead of time.
But then any pity dissipated. Krystal had been downright mean to Eva since the first day of kindergarten orientation four years ago.
And yet, today, here she was volunteering under Krystal’s tutelage.
The things she did for her children… Lorenzo had begged her to volunteer, saying if she didn’t she’d be the only mother not on the committee.
Reluctantly, she’d agreed.
Someday, when they were older, she’d explain to Lorenzo and Alessandra the sacrifice she’d made kowtowing to such a controlling bitch, but for now she’d do whatever it took to make sure she and her family blended in.
Her phone vibrated. Eva looked down.
The picture that appeared on her phone took her breath away. She shot up out of her seat. Her world spun, and her legs grew weak and unsteady. She stumbled, clutching at the table to keep herself from collapsing. Her phone fell to the floor. It landed face up. A photo of a man’s severed head filled the screen.
She couldn’t get air into her lungs. Her vision closed in. Her legs had grown useless. She slumped back down into her chair and felt a hand on her forearm. It was Heidi’s.
“Are you okay?”
The words ignited Eva into action. She scrambled to her feet, grabbed her bag and phone, and began to run, calling “Thank you,” over her shoulder to a bewildered Heidi.
She’d barely made it out the door, her three-inch designer heels clacking on the pavement, when someone grabbed her arm and yanked her back.
“Excuse me!” She recognized the high-pitched squeak. Krystal. “You did not ask to be excused from the meeting.”
“Fuck off, Krystal.”
Eva wrenched her arm free so forcibly, a few of Krystal’s fake nails went flying. Krystal spluttered in rage, but Eva was already across the parking lot.
She was almost to her vehicle when the driver of a silver Porsche slammed on the brakes, skidding to a halt inches away from her thighs. She kept running, barely registering the woman’s concerned face hanging out the window asking if she was okay.
In her Mercedes SUV, Eva’s hands trembled so violently it took her three tries to get the key in the ignition. With her foot pressed to the gas, she fumbled under her seat and unsnapped a small case. She threw it on the passenger seat. As she squealed out of the parking lot, she barely noticed the other cars darting out of her way.
With the salty Pacific breeze whipping her hair, Eva raced down the highway, passing slower cars. She pushed back thoughts of her family. It was dangerous to allow herself to get caught up in sentimentality. It would weaken her. She had to reach deep down and draw from her dark past if her family was going to survive.
Her darkest memories rose to the surface. A moonlit Sicilian night full of bloodshed:
Walls splattered with red arterial spray; pools of coagulated blood turned black; clothing stiff with dried blood; a hand with ruby red fingernails placing the queen of spades card on a motionless chest; a head held by the hair with blood dripping onto the ground out of the jagged flesh that had once connected the neck to the body…
The mutilated body of her Sicilian lover and fiancée sprawled under a white sheet.
It all came back, blotting out the golden Southern California sunshine pouring through her driver’s side window.
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About the Author
Kristi Belcamino is a USA Today bestseller, an Agatha, Anthony, Barry & Macavity finalist, and an Italian Mama who bakes a tasty biscotti.
Her books feature strong, kickass, independent women facing unspeakable evil in order to seek justice for those unable to do so themselves.
In her former life, as an award-winning crime reporter at newspapers in California, she flew over Big Sur in an FA-18 jet with the Blue Angels, raced a Dodge Viper at Laguna Seca, attended barbecues at the morgue, and conversed with serial killers.
During her decade covering crime, Belcamino wrote and reported about many high-profile cases including the Laci Peterson murder and Chandra Levy disappearance. She has appeared on Inside Edition and local television shows. She now writes fiction and
