Page 129 of A Taste Of Darkness

At the mention of her, my laughter instantly died down. I still didn’t know what they’d done to her, if she could remember anything, or if the trauma on her body caused irreparable damage.

Suddenly, a wave of anger crashed over me, and the feeling only intensified as my eyes laid on Adriana. She was still sitting on the floor. She was taking deep, yet shallow breaths at the pain that must’ve been surging through her thanks to the two shot wounds in her legs.

I’d never wished for someone to die, however, right at this moment, I had the strong urge to take Milo’s gun and put a bullet through the woman’s head. But death would’ve been too gracious for her.

“Why did she do this?” I asked, my words laced with hatred. “What did I do?”

Milo looked at Adriana, cocking his head. “Because she wanted to rob me of something that was going to hurt me as much as it hurt her not to have her father in her life. And she didn’t kill you when she had the chance because she wanted me to watch like she had to watch. Right, Adriana?”

She didn’t reply, only looked away which was enough confirmation for me.

“But… she’s been after me way before you killed your dad,” I said.

Milo shook his head. “My father wasn’t hers.”

I looked from Adriana to Milo, confused at first.

“Her dad’s the uncle I killed,” he said.

Now the Palermo comment made sense. It was the only thing she ever said to me that truly made sense.

If I hadn’t been in Palermo that day, Milo and I would’ve never met. He would’ve never had to save me, and he would’ve never fallen victim to his own uncle.

Funny, wasn’t it? I couldn’t even remember why I’d been to Palermo before. Yet that stupid vacation that I had no recollection of had been the worst fucking decision of my entire life.

Oh, well, perhaps not the worst because I had Milo now, even if his presence in my life sure did complicate mine a little. It was alright though, I had a thing for stuff that kept me up at night.

70

TAKE A DEEP BREATH

Milo Marucci

As much as I wanted to kill Adriana for what she’d done, I figured letting the cops throw her behind bars was more of a punishment than death.

Death was the easy way out, and I wanted her to suffer. What better way to torture a woman who loved the outside world? Keeping her locked up for life without parole. Arlo was flying out to make sure to be the lawyer on the case and get her the worst possible sentence.

It’d been two hours later, and Sterlie and I were in my penthouse when Kai called to let us know that Flora was alright, as was the baby. She’d suffered a mild concussion, so she needed to rest for a few days, but she was going to be okay. Flora could only remember parts of what happened before she woke up, but it was okay because I doubted anyone wanted to remember getting hit and held captive.

Except for Sterlie perhaps.

Even after three months in Palermo, the only memory Sterlie got back was where my name came from… but I think she was slowly accepting that she wouldn’t remember. It was better for her anyway.

“Milo?” Sterlie said as I got off the phone with my brother.

They stayed at the hospital and helped the medical staff to get patients into ambulances and more. We did nice things sometimes, though with me in charge of the family, they’d be doing more nice things than bad ones.

I opened my arms for my girlfriend, inviting her in. She took the opportunity without hesitation and sat down on my lap, wrapping her arms around my body before pushing us back on the sofa.

“What’s up, my love?” I wasn’t going to let her out of my sight ever again.

If I had no other choice but to give her some space, I’d order Michael to find someone he trusted enough to work alongside him as Sterlie’s security guard. She also needed some time away from me every now and then, I was well aware of that, so that was why Michael by her side was non-negotiable.

Sterlie sat up straight, looking right into my eyes. “Please tell me something like today will never happen again.”

I enveloped her face with my hands, caressing her skin with my thumbs. “Nothing like that is ever going to happen to you ever again, cuore mio. I won’t let it happen.”

She took a deep breath, nodding softly. “I was so scared.”

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