Page 38 of The Sicilian Brotherhood I

“Skye, I’m your best friend. What’s going on? What did Franco say to you when he came here?”

“Stop thinking this is about Franco. I’m worried about you. You’re hanging out with some guy who would kill you in a second.”

“Like you said,” I sniffed, “No different from Franco.”

“Yeah, only you understood Franco’s demons.”

“That didn’t make them any less terrifying.”

Skye sighed, “Listen, don’t leave tonight, please.”

“I have to. Giacomo told me to stay in one place. I wasn’t supposed to come here.”

“Why did you?”

I didn’t see the sense in lying to her.

“Because he thinks you betrayed me and I wanted to find out the truth.”

“I’ve never betrayed you, Dahlia.”

“I still can’t stay.”

She stared at me with intensity, studying my face.

“Dahlia, you have to. You can’t go back to him.”

A part of her did care, I could sense it. She feared Giacomo. I believed that too. But something was amiss. Tension hung thick in the air.

“I have to.”

“No, you don’t. Please, Dahlia, I can help you.”

She reached for my arm, squeezing it tightly.

“Skye, come on, let go.”

“He’s dangerous Dahlia, I can’t let you go back to him.”

She grasped my arm tightly and I attempted to wrest it away from her.

“Skye, let go of me! I need to go. Now.”

I pulled my arm away from her one last time. My throat went dry when I heard the knob on her front door turn.

“I’m sorry, Dahlia,” she said.

She let go of me. I turned to run but stopped dead in my tracks when I saw who burst through Skye’s front door.

“Skye…”

“Buon Giorno, Dahlia,” Iago said as he walked in.

I whipped my head around to face Skye, my jaw hanging open. I'd wanted to believe in her.

“They threatened Millie, Dahlia. I’m sorry.”

She broke down crying, blubbering against the wall and repeating that she was sorry. I didn’t have time to protest or deal with Skye. If Iago got his hands on me, I’d be dead. Iago was the man you called to tie up loose ends. Most people who saw Iago only met him once.

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