Page 269 of The Devil's Fire

“Gio?”

“I will happily shoot you. Don’t worry about it.” He said, barely acknowledging my existence as he kept his gaze fixed on his phone.

“Thank you. I knew I could count on you.”

“I got your back on this.”

Luca kicked Giovanni's leg, making him shoot a glare in his direction. With a warning look from Luca, he turned his attention to me and then to Damiano.

“I was just kidding.” Giovanni’s words were rushed, making me immediately shift my attention to Damiano, whose face bore a hauntingly fearful expression.

“You better watch your mouth, or I will throw you out while we’re flying.” Damiano practically growled. His tone sent a shiver down my spine as his voice dripped with promise.

Giovanni nodded in response before resuming his focus on his phone.

“And you.” Damiano gently held my chin, guiding my gaze to meet his. “Don’t you dare joke around with something like that again. I won’t tolerate it.” He stated firmly, fixing me with a deadly glare.

“Sorry.” I whispered.

Holding Damiano’s hand tightly in mine, I could feel my heart racing as we were catapulted into the air. Damiano did everything to distract me, talking to me about his family as he massaged the inside of my wrist.

He shared so many stories that I was completely engrossed that I hadn’t realized we had been flying for a while.

“Did you have a good time with your father?”

“Yeah, it was nice to see him again.” I said happily, and he grinned at my reaction.

“That’s good.” He smiled.

“He asked me if I could remember anything that could help him find who killed my mom.” I let out a small sigh, feeling down that there wasn’t anything new.

“What did he want to know?” Damiano furrowed his brows.

“If my mom mentioned anything before she passed away.”

“I see.” He replied, concealing what he was thinking as the blank expression settled back on his face.

“It’s just one big blank space whenever I try to remember anything…. Well, maybe she did?” I suddenly said and sat up straight, my heart beating a little faster.

“What is it?” His demeanor caught the attention of the others.

“My mom said how she should have known how he was going to do this sooner rather than later.” I told him, completely forgetting to tell him about that part.

Damiano exchanged a brief glance with the others before turning his attention back to me. I didn’t know if it was something useful.

“As much as I would rather have you not remembering that night at all, do you remember anything else she said?”

I furrowed my brows, deep in thought.

“Something about I need to stay with you… because you’re the only one who can protect me from him.”

Damiano’s expression turned into an icy, terrifying glare, causing shivers to run down my spine as his intense gaze locked onto me.

“… But it could be anyone. She didn’t get to finish what she meant by it.” Defeated and disappointed, my shoulders slumped as I realized it was likely a dead end.

“I don’t want you to worry about it now. Leave it to me.” Damiano said before I could ask how we were ever supposed to get to the bottom of this.

“You will let me know if you find something, right?” I looked at him with hopeful eyes.

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