Page 75 of Mafiosa
‘Wewerediscussing it,’ Luca said, nonplussed. ‘And now we’re done discussing it. The decision has been made.’
I blinked at him, incredulity filling me up. ‘Without the rest of us?’
He tilted his head. ‘It was our decision to make.’
I got to my feet. ‘You’re kidding, right? I can’t believe youdid this behind my back.’
‘Behind your back?’ Frustration curled his lip, brought out a hint of the feral Luca I had seen many times before. ‘I thought you’d berelievedabout this.’
‘You thought I’d be relieved that the day after Donata Marinoopened fireon me at my high school dance you’re extending an olive branch to her? Are you out of yourmind?’
Luca got to his feet too. ‘Areyou?’
I shook my head. ‘I can’t believe you’re giving up like this.’
When he spoke, his voice was deadly calm. ‘You almostdiedlast night, Sophie. I almost had towatch you die.’
I took a step towards him, propelling all my anger and frustration into the space between us. ‘But I didn’t die, Luca. That’s the point. I’m still here, and they’re a man down. Now we have the upper hand.’
‘I don’t care about the upper hand!’ he said, his composure unfurling almost as fast as mine. ‘I care about lives! I care aboutyourlife! At least one of us should!’
‘What the hell is that supposed to mean?’ I hissed, venom pooling on my tongue.
He glared at me. ‘It means you have a life outside of this war, Sophie. You havepossibilities. I want you to stop looking at all the things you want to damage and start looking at all the ways you can be happy. That life you imagine for yourself? The one we talked about? You can have that. You can still have all of it. Start thinking about that. Start thinking about possibility.’
There he was, on that damn pedestal again, and it made me so mad that he couldn’t understand how badly I needed this. How badly I wanted Donata to pay.
I reeled my temper in, made myself sound calm as I said, ‘And what if I want something different? Does that count for anything?’
‘We’re calling a truce,’ he said firmly. ‘This isn’t a negotiation. I just wanted to let you know. Stupidly, I thought you’d be pleased.’ Before I could respond, he turned from me and stalked out of the room.
I marched after him. ‘Hey! Get back here!’
He turned around, his eyes flashing in the dusky hallway. ‘What?’ he spat.
‘Is that it?’ I said. ‘The blood war is over, so you’re just going to go back to ignoring me. Pretending I don’t exist.’
He took a step towards me. ‘When have I ever pretended you don’t exist?’
‘When you don’t look at me for days at a time!’ I shouted. ‘When you don’t talk to me. When you make decisions without consulting me! When you walk around here acting like I don’t exist! When you spend days not eventhinkingabout me.’
He scraped his hands through his hair, then flung them down by his sides. ‘Sophie, I’malwaysthinking about you! Don’t you get that?’ He took another step, frustration tripping through his voice. ‘I can’t do anythingbutthink about you. I spend all my time worrying about your safety, whether you’re happy, whether you’re healing, and you’re standing here asking me to throw you back into the fire!’
His words slapped the retort right out of my mouth. I just hovered there, marbled in my surprise as he stood in front of me, waiting for his breathing to slow.
He came a little closer, and I stayed still, wanting him toexplain. He took his switchblade out, brandished the handle between us, his name scrawled on top. A piece of paper came with it, upheaved from his pocket.
‘I gave you myknife,’ he said, as I caught the paper fluttering to the floor. ‘I gave you the most important thing I own.’
I held the paper between us like a white flag. ‘What’s this?’
‘Oh,’ he said, frowning at his pocket. He stowed the knife away, his voice falling quiet. ‘That.’
I unfolded it slowly, waiting for him to stop me. He didn’t.
It was a note.
It wasmynote.
