Becoming the Hitman (Zanetti Famiglia #5) - Hayley Faiman Page 0,2

practice on in Emilyn.

It was my paid apprenticeship that has kept the roof over me and my da’s head and food in our bellies. It’s his part-time bartending at the pub that pays for his smokes and beer. I don’t hound him about that, I don’t hound anybody about anything. What’s the point?

I keep my head down. I do my work and I think of Emilyn. I can’t help but imagine the worst when it comes to her. Each month that turns into a year just solidifies the fact that she’s never coming back.

Not ever.

Then, one day a client sits in my chair and tells me a tale. She tells me about this man who is sending girls to America as sex workers. She tells me that he’s from right here in Kilfinane. He has taken girls from all over Ireland and sent them to the States.

I don’t want to believe her, but I can’t help imagining that perhaps this is what has happened to Emilyn. My client’s words, her rumors, they open up a whole new road to search for Emi. I start to scrimp and save, to skimp on things that I can do without, all so that I can hire a private detective to attempt to search this new avenue.

Maybe I am just being a hopeful fool. Perhaps absolutely nothing will come of it.

I have nothing else to live for, but this hope that has bloomed inside of me.

I need Emilyn.

I need to find her.

I refuse to believe that she is dead.

Chapter One

SIOBAHN

Detective Connor watches me from across the hot coffee that he’s brought to his lips. I take a sip of my own, uncaring that it’s bitter. Everything in life is bitter. I’m twenty-five years old and I’ve been looking for my missing sister for a decade. She’s not been found, not a single trace of her in ten years.

No leads, nothing to go off of, just vanished. My father drinks himself to an early grave every day and my mother finally succumbed to her demons about five years ago.

“What do you have for me?” I almost demand when he doesn’t say anything.

He watches me for a moment longer over his coffee. I’m ready to scream in his face, to demand answers. I’ve saved for five years for this man to work on my sister’s case. Five years of scrimping and working after hours, of eating just enough to survive, of nothing extra, not even on my birthday.

He clears his throat, then sits back. “The trail, though it was cold to begin with, it is just frozen solid, Siobahn. I wish that I had better news for you, but alas, I do not.”

“What about the man? The one I’ve heard rumors of?” I demand.

Connor’s gaze shifts to the side, then he looks back at me, but his eyes don’t meet mine. He’s about to lie to me. I know that he is, but I don’t think that I could get the answers from him, even if I tried.

“Do not go asking questions about things you don’t know about. The best advice that I can give you is to just simply live your life, Siobahn. Live the life that Emilyn would have wanted you to live.”

Leaning forward, I try really hard not to growl. “I can’t live that life and do you know why?” I ask. Without giving him a moment to even respond, I continue. “All Emilyn wanted to do was move in with me when she was older. She wanted to live with me and my family. She doesn’t get to do that, so I don’t get to move on, Connor.”

He stands to his feet, but I’m not letting him walk away from me without a fight. He holds up his hand and I watch him turn and walk over to the wastebasket. He throws his paper coffee cup away, but before he turns back around, I open the file that’s sitting between us and snatch the papers inside.

Slipping them into my big purse, I zip it up quickly before he can return. I want all of the research he’s conducted. Whatever he found, it is enough to scare him into silence. I aim to find out exactly what that is. I’m finding Emilyn, even if it costs me my life, I will find my baby sister.

Connor returns, giving me a sad smile, and reaches for the folder. I try not to look down, keeping my gaze focused on his as he reaches out with