Page 138 of Phantom Mine

Trying to take my mind off him doesn’t work either.

Thinking of Adri only serves to remind me that losing him also means losing access to the club and his resources.

He told me that the first thing he did when he becameDonlast week was assign a few more trusted men to Enzo’s side, tasking them all with finding the sex trafficking ring’s home base. Now I’ll never know the result of those missions. I’ll have to start over, all my time atFirenzehaving been wasted, thrown away in an instant.

Grabbing a pillow, I press it against my face and scream into its depths. It does a good job of muffling my wails, almosttoogood.

That pisses me off. Everything’s been pissing me off since last night. I cursed when I opened my eyes and realized yesterday wasn’t a nightmare, grumbled when I dropped the shampoo bottle in the shower after squeezing some out onto my palm, shouted when the top of the blender came off as I was making my smoothie this morning, and nearly lost it entirely when, after all that, I checked my phone and Matteo still hadn’t called. In short, I’ve been bouncing between grief and anger like some sort of manic yo-yo.

The useless pillow hits the wall with a decidedly more satisfyingthunk.

I need to create a self-care cocoon and wrap it around myself otherwise I’m actually going to drive myself crazy. With the remote in hand, I put on a random episode ofFriends, then snatch a nearby candle off my coffee table and head into the kitchen.

Taking my frustrations unfairly out on the inanimate object, I slam it angrily down on the counter and go digging through mydrawers until I find a lighter. All my other candles went straight to the trash when I learned about Matteo’s phobia, but Aurora gave me this one to cheer me up last week when he was radio silent. It seems only right that I burn the hell out of it to force some much needed relaxation into my body, whether it’s willing to accept it or not.

The feeling is there again, the same one that niggles at me, telling me that I’m not seeing something obvious.

I roll the wheel of the lighter over the wick and sparks fly. For some reason, it’s those sparks that connect all of the dots together.

Burn.

Burn the candle.

Dagny burned her hand.

And Adriana burned her finger on her straightener that night. The same finger on which she wore our mother’s engagement ring.

The wick catches fire before my eyes.

Isawthe burn on the polaroid, I just didn’t think about it. Didn’t think it was important. And maybe it isn’t, but Matteo’s words ring in my ears.

How do you know Adriana is dead?

I pat the sides of my leggings until I find my phone. My hands shake so much that I nearly drop it as I unlock it and dial myPapà’s number.

He answers on the first ring.

“Mija,’ he says warmly, his voice holding no traces of the brutal carteljefehe also happens to be.

“Hola,” I answer. I’m desperate to just jump in and get to the reason I called, but I can’t do that without worrying him.

“It’s been far too long,mija. I’ve missed you.” More guilt swells inside me. I should have been checking in more with him.He’d smack the back of my head for saying this, but he’s not getting any younger. “Cómo has estado?”

How have I been?

I can hardly say ‘good, I infiltrated one of our biggest rivals’ social headquarters, killed the heir, and developed really strong feelings for his brother. You?’ so I simply say,

“Bien, y tú?”

He ignores my question back to him. “What have you been up to? Your brother won’t admit it, but I can tell he also hasn’t been hearing from you. Should I be worried?”

“No,Papà,” I assure him, using a softer voice. “I’ve just been busy.”

“Don’t use that tone with me, I know when you’re trying to manipulate me, you know. You can’t fool your father.”

I smile. “That’s because my father is the smartest man alive.”

“Flattery will get you everywhere,niña.” He chuckles warmly, the sound drifting off into a companionable silence. “So tell me, Valentina. Why did you call me? I know it isn’t just because you missed me.”

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