Page 136 of Mafia Don's Secret Twins

Dino turns, looking at me with concern. “Marisol? Are you okay?”

“I…” I’m trying to tell him that I’m okay, that I just need to get the rest of the way down the mountain.

But I never get a chance to.

Darkness swims over my eyes, and everything stops.

I’m warm.

I must be dead, because there’s no way that I’m this warm exposed to the rain.

If I’m dead though…

I’ll never see the girls again.

The thought spurs something in me, and grief spears through me like a knife. Slowly, I’m aware of tears that feel like they’re burning against my face, leaving wet trails down my cheeks that scald me like fire.

“Marisol?” I hear a raspy, familiar voice.

Dino.

Is Dino dead too?

Oh my god, the girls are orphans. Please let my mom find them. Please let them be safe with Caterina and Elio and Gia. Please…

“Marisol, wake up. Please, love,” Dino says.

Wake up?

I feel something on my face. A thumb. Brushing the tracks of the tears.

“Wake up, please,” he whispers.

I’m trying.

It feels like trudging through layers of sand, each one thicker than the last. Finally, when I start to see light behind my eyes, I gasp.

When I finally open them, everything seems too…bright.

I can’t see around me. All I see is brightness, that kind of flickers. I struggle, trying to get my elbows underneath me.

“Easy,” Dino murmurs, his hands on my sides. “Take it easy, Marisol.”

I blink.

Slowly, the room comes into focus. It’s small, with an earth-packed floor that is surprisingly dry, considering how much rain has fallen, and a little stove that contains a fire that’s merrily flickering, throwing heat into the small room.

Looking over at Dino, my lips purse together. I want to ask him where we are, but nothing but a croak comes out of it.

“Here,” he says, tipping a metal cup to my lips.

I drink.

The water is good. Clean. Not full of mud. I take a sip then use some of it to swish around my mouth, getting rid of dirt and mud and whatever else is in there, before I spit it over the side of my makeshift bed and onto the dirt floor.

I look up at Dino. “Where are we?”

He shrugs. “I have no idea. After you passed out I picked you up and just… ran.”

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