Page 7 of Till Death Do Us Part

“So cold, but so warm,” she muttered, almost to herself. “I know you’re not in herejustto see if Roma is doing any better. I remember that night. Every second of it. I remember you being at Jupiter. You were watching her dance.”

“The entire place was watching her dance.”

“True.” She wiped her cheeks. “But there’s something different about you. The night you showed up and saved me, I was so confused. I thought maybe I was hallucinating. I still can’t believe it when I look at you. Y—that’s what we call Roma—described you to me before the attack. She had this image of the perfect guy in her head. It was you. Physically.”

“Maybe she saw me.”

“No. She would have totally flipped out and told me. She was surprised when I mentioned you—just a fine guy who was watching her dance. Roma is the most beautiful girl I’ve ever seen, but her looksaredeceiving. She’s not into what most people would think she is.

“She doesn’t mind dancing by herself, or eating alone, or settling in for hours to read about creatures that went extinct millions of years ago. Then again, she doesn’t mind trying new styles of clothes or makeup. I…I would always convince her to be my test doll, to try new looks and hairstyles…” Her hands came to her face, and she started to cry into them.

She wasn’t being loud. She was holding back for her sister’s sake. But her shoulders shook with the intensity of what she was feeling.

Isabella came back into the room, standing by the door. “I think you should go,” she whispered.

I took another look at Roma, fixed my suit, then headed for the door.

Isabella called my name, stopping me before I walked out. “You look like Jack.”

He was standing close to the nurse’s station, waiting for Isabella to let him in the room. Our eyes met.

Isabella must have been eavesdropping on our conversation. She was making a point. So was I.

“Jack looks like me,” I said and left.

Chapter4

Roma

It seemed like the night from hell continued to haunt me. From the moment I opened my eyes, weeks after the attack, I kept going in and out of consciousness. It reminded me of the night that left me helpless in this hospital bed. My head felt disconnected from the rest of me, but I knew my body was in bad shape. Especially when I opened my eyes, and the world was fuzzy and tainted red.

My eyes were bleeding from the asshole who had punched them. When I moved them around, it seemed like liquid lava floating in water. The doctor said I might have to have surgery to get rid of it.

The entire situation tired me out, and I didn’t fight against the weights when they made my eyes close.

“What’s with all the dinosaurs?”

The voice was deep and warm. I didn’t recognize it. I forced my eyes to open and stay that way. It seemed like I was looking through lenses filled with blood, and I could barely see anything. I wanted to blink it away, but it refused to budge. Fighting it gave me a headache.

This man was new to me, though, and it simultaneously made me curious and panicky.

“Who are you?” I croaked.

The man’s shape was haloed red by the light, like he’d been washed in blood, and the sun was hitting him from behind. If they had come to finish the job, I was ripe for the picking. The last time I was so vulnerable, I wore diapers.

“Felice Maggio, but everyone calls me John.” His hand touched mine, and it was as warm as his voice.

When I moved my hand away from his, he put distance between us, going to sit back in the chair he’d occupied.

“Tommaso Russo is a friend of your father’s,” he continued. “I work for Tommaso.”

I knew who Tommaso Russo was and what he did. He was the boss of the Chicago Outfit. He looked like an unassuming old man, but his job title told a different story.

Babbo had friends in dark places. Tommaso was one of them. We never really spoke about it, but we all knew. Sometimes they would come over to the house. Those were the times he shut his office door to keep us out and to keep them in. Mamma used to say he wasn’t to be disturbed.

“Babbo asked Tommaso to send you here? To keep an eye on me?”

“You don’t need eyes on you. You’re safe. I took care of it.”

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