Page 73 of Vendetta
‘You would havekilledhim,’ Luca hissed.
‘He deserves it,’ Nic returned evenly – casually, almost.
‘What happened to laying low? You could have ruined everything. And I told you, it’s not your concern.’
‘Sheismy fucking concern!’
‘She won’t want to have anything to do with you now anyway,’ Luca continued, a sudden airiness in his voice.
Nic snapped his head up; his eyes were frantic. ‘Why not?’
I felt my heart constrict in agony as I realized what was about to happen; and it was too late, there was nothing I coulddo to stop it.
Luca raised his arm until he was pointing directly across the clearing. ‘Because she’s standing right there.’
Nic followed Luca’s finger until his gaze found mine and, just like the night he discovered my name, horror possessed his features, warping them as we stood apart from each other, both of us heartbroken for different reasons.
‘Sophie…’ he whispered, but it was too late.
I couldn’t speak. I couldn’t even open my mouth I was so petrified. I started to back away.
He stumbled forwards.
‘Let her go,’ Luca cautioned. ‘She’s terrified.’
I faltered back into the shadows between the trees. My retreat turned to reckless abandon. I careened through the park, racing towards the flickering of the screen. When I passed the final scattering of trees, I sprinted around the taco truck, where I collided with Millie.
‘Careful, Soph!’ she screeched as I tumbled backwards and landed against the grass beside the taco I had just knocked from her grip. Groaning, she stuck out her hand and hoisted me up from the ground. ‘Where the hell have you been?’
‘We have to go,’ I explained, springing forwards. ‘If you knew what I just saw…’
‘What’s going on?’
‘Come on!’ I pulled her towards the grass. I threw everything back into my bag, watching the trees every few seconds for the reappearance of Nic and Luca. ‘I’ll explain everything when we’re out of here.’ And then I was off again, dragging Millie as I raced down the winding paths.
‘What’s going on?’ she whined in between heaves. ‘I’m. Too.Out. Of. Shape. For. This.’
‘Just come on!’ I navigated our way back through the walk-ways until the entrance to Rayfield Park edged into view.
Before we passed through the arch, Millie stopped and clutched at her sides like she had been punched in the stomach. ‘Stop,’ she wheezed. ‘I need. A minute.’
‘Can we please just keep going?’
‘I think. My feet. Are bleeding.’ She brushed her hair away from her face, which was glistening with a fresh sheen of sweat. ‘What’s going on. With you?’
Before I could answer with an explosion of everything I had just witnessed, someone grabbed on to my arm and yanked me away from her.
‘Hey!’ I protested as Nic pulled me into him.
‘Whatever you’re about to say to Millie, don’t,’ he urged in a voice so low only I could hear it. He tightened his hands around my wrists and held them against his. ‘Please.’
Behind us, Millie was noticing the sweat stains pooling out from under her arms and the bleeding along the straps of her sandals. ‘Gross,’ she moaned as she sank to the grass, panting.
‘You can’t tell me what I can and can’t tell my best friend,’ I snapped, shaking him off me.
‘You promised,’ he said quietly. ‘That was supposed to mean something.’
‘I promised when I thought you were aninactivemember of the Mafia, which youclearlyare not! This is completely different. I will not be bound by that!’
