Page 25 of A Taste Of Darkness

“So, about my plan to go on vacation…”

Milo picked up a stack of old mail. Well, it wasn’t that old. Maybe two or three months. I didn’t check my mail a lot because it was never important anyway. Okay, it wasn’t always important. Most of the time, it was just advertisements. I rarely received mail for payments.

As he went through each letter, Milo’s face was blank. He didn’t care one bit about anything, except for one. Once, his eyebrows scrunched together. Just once, his eyes filled with concern, confusion, or fury. I couldn’t tell.

“What is it?” I asked. He didn’t reply. “Milo?” I laid my hand on his shoulder, and for some very unknown reason, this touch felt like getting zapped with electricity. But it wasn’t anything like the triboelectric shock. It was so completely different.

So unfamiliar.

I guess he felt it too because Milo looked up from the paper in his hands, his head whipped around, and his eyes settled on mine all within seconds. There was something foreign in his dark eyes.

I never really noticed how beautiful his eyes were. So dark. Full of secrets. Full of scars he didn’t talk about. He’s seen things that nobody ever should. And yet, his eyes were so pure, so magnetic.

He was reflecting the gates of heaven and hell; held entire universes in those brown eyes.

I wanted to know those secrets they were holding.

Milo cleared his throat. “What?”

It took me a second to gather myself, but eventually, I found my voice. “What’s caught your attention?”

He was hesitating, but I suppose he figured he couldn’t possibly keep my mail away from my eyes, so he gave in. “It’s a letter,” he told me.

“Okay?” I received quite a few letters, but as we already established, I never opened them. “What’s so interesting about this one?”

“It’s from someone I know. They’re trying to reach out to you.”

So, he wasn’t lying just to make me feel better. “Why? I mean, I know you said it’s better if I don’t know why I’m involved, but Milo, you must understand that this is frightening. You can’t just drag me into something you say is dangerous and then refuse to tell me what I’d gotten dragged into. This isn’t fair.”

“I know, cuore mio. God, I know.” He pocketed the letter, then told me he was going to touch me before he laid both of his hands onto my shoulders. The electric shock from earlier didn’t return. “You have to trust me; it’s better if you don’t know.”

“I hear you, really, I do. But it’s still scary. I don’t even have anything to do with you, Milo. Up until three weeks ago, we had a total of two conversations at most. I’m sorry if that makes me wonder what I could’ve possibly done that whoever you’re in trouble with has it out for me.” I stepped back from him and rushed into my living room, throwing stuff around, telling myself it was to help him find bugs that I was sure weren’t there.

I didn’t care if I broke candles or vases. Apparently, I wasn’t going to come back here anyway.

No matter what, there was no way I’d be entering this apartment ever again. In my head, I already knew that I had to move across the entire city. My heart wasn’t quite ready to accept it.

Sure, I hated this apartment, but it was still mine. This was my home, and thanks to whatever Milo had done, I could no longer feel safe here ever again.

“It’s my family,” Milo told me. He took the candle in my hands away from me before I could throw it onto the ground. “They want me back home, and they’re using you to get to me.”

14

GUESS WE’RE GOING TO ITALY

Milo Marucci

“Dear Miss Adams,

I know you don’t know me, and I understand this might take you by surprise or you might think of this as a joke, but I need to speak to you.

My name is Adriana Veneto, currently residing in Palermo, Italy. I’m the sister of Luca Veneto, a name that should sound familiar to you, I hope.

I’m sure my brother told you about his earlier life, so I don’t feel bad when I tell you that you are in great danger.

As you may know, years ago, Luca escaped the Sicilian mafia with my help. He’s believed to be dead, but unless our family finds a body, they will not accept it. As he is the underboss of the Cosa Nostra, we have a duty to find him, even if it’s the last thing we do.

For seven years now, our cousins have been trying to locate Luca, unsuccessfully, mind you. He and I kept in touch for a while, and everything seemed to be going great. Until my last letter.

---