Page 97 of Brutal Legacy

Elio was sleeping on a thin floor pad, right beside the bed. He had a pillow and a blanket, but that had been kicked off. He was drenched in sweat; his bare chest glistened with it. He shook his head, a soft murmur leaving him. He was panting.

He was dreaming about something, and it wasn’t something good.

I wriggled to the edge of the bed and took the opportunity to watch him.

What kind of dreams could push a man as merciless and dangerous as Elio to have what appeared to be night terrors?

His head shook back and forth, and his hands clenched into fists.Should I wake him?

His eyes suddenly slammed open, and he stared at the ceiling. His eyes. Green, finally, and just as mesmerizing as ever.

I shot back in the bed and lay still, pretending to be asleep. Had he seen me?

Then there was a rustle. Elio getting up. He cracked his knuckles and drank water in long, desperate swallows. I wanted to peek, but I didn’t dare to.

Elio moved around the room. I could feel when he passed me, even without opening my eyes. He went back and forth and then stopped. I had the feeling that if I opened my eyes, he’d be standing right in front of me. Watching.

I tried to breathe normally, slow and steady, but my heart was beating so fast. It had to be obvious that I was awake, right? He had to know. Seconds passed. Was he just standing there? I felt the heat of his skin on my cheek before he touched me. It was the only reason I could stop myself from flinching with surprise. His finger rubbed gently along my cheekbone. He brushed the hair off my forehead, where it had stuck to my skin. The memory of just coming, fresh off a dirty dream about this man, flooded through me. No, not just a dream. A memory.

Just as abruptly as he’d touched me, he was gone, going toward the table in the window, or least it sounded like that.

A metal scraping sound filled the air, then it fell quiet. After a moment, I got brave enough to crack my eyelids open a sliver.

Elio was sitting at the table with an array of guns set out in front of him. His attention was fixed on them, and he methodically disassembled the weapons and cleaned them. His tan skin glinted under the spotlight over the table. His tattoos were works of art. I could spend days studying the designs.

Giada’s words from earlier replayed in my mind.

He lost his soul overseas.

A terrible foreboding hit my gut. The memory of that night, in my bed, while the storm raged outside, was still close, lingering on the edges of my mind. Could he be the same man who only a few weeks later had run away from me? Abandoned me so thoroughly?

It had never made sense. Never. It had never felt right, but I’d had no choice but to accept it, slowly.

The real burning question was why did he hate me so much, if he’d been the one to abandon me? I felt a yawning pit of darkness stretching before both of us. The past rising to meet us. It looked like we’d have to confront those demons once and for all. There was no escape. No places left to hide.

Elio started to put his guns back together. When he was done, he set everything down and sat back. His eyes rose toward me, and I closed mine quickly.

It was quiet for a long while, and then the chair creaked like he’d moved. I opened my eyes again to see he’d picked up a revolver with an old-fashioned barrel. He stared at it for ages, then spun the chamber.

Is it loaded?Before my mind could go to that dark place, I watched him put the end of the gun to his temple and pull the trigger.

I jumped, clapping a hand over my mouth so I didn’t scream. The click was loud. My heart was in my mouth, and I couldn’t breathe. He sat with the gun still pressed to his temple and then lowered it. The tension seemed to melt from his shoulders. I’drarely seen him relaxed since he’d stormed back into my life. He was always tense, coiled like a spring, yet tightly controlled. There was no relaxation or spontaneity. There was no room for ease.

The reality of what I’d just witnessed sank through me. Elio stood and switched the light off. He carried newfound calmness through the room as he walked back to the bed on the floor. Words to confront him, to reveal what I’d seen and ask him what the hell he was doing, filled my mind. I had to fight to keep them inside. He lay down, disappearing into the darkness. My words died. I didn’t know what to say to Elio anymore to reach him. He was a fortress unto himself.

Tears came, and for the first time since Tommaso died, they were for someone other than myself. What had the world done to those kids who’d been young and starry-eyed in Castel Amaro?

My pillow wet through while I silently cried myself to sleep.

28

ELIO

Iwent for my run as soon as I woke up. Dawn was just creeping over the grounds of Casa Nera, the sky tinted purple. I pushed myself harder than usual. At the thirty-minute mark, my brain finally switched off and glorious quiet surged in. I ran for another hour.

The calm started to fade when I got back inside and unlocked the door to my room. The reason for the noise in my head was asleep. I found myself sitting on the bed. She was still wearing my clothes. Giada had messaged me yesterday to inform me that I needed to clothe my new wife before she decided to walk around naked.

Just the thought of Georgia making a point by strolling down the hallway of Casa Nera, packed with De Sanctis men, naked, shattered my temporary calm. Giada had a point. My little hostage was going to need clothes. She was going to need her own room, and she was going to need something to keep her busy.

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