Page 115 of Till Death Do Us Part

She sighed. “He’s been…depressed, Y. After you got married…”

“It’s like he’s sick,” Isabella said. “We barely see him when we’re at the house. When we do, he sits in the sunroom and stares out, petting Paisano. He doesn’t eat much. He’s lost weight. And he’s been visiting Mamma’s grave more than usual.”

“Mamma must have looked…awful,” Talia said. “It must have really scarred him, what he saw. It’s like he’s seeing you the same way. Like he’s still looking at you in the hospital bed after you were attacked.”

“I never saw him cry growing up,” Alina said. “I saw him crying after Mamma died. And when you two were in the hospital.”

I looked away from them, at Elsa and Kerry. They looked away from me. The semi-normal time we were having seemed to lose all its helium.

“What is this?” Lo snapped. “A celebration or a funeral? No one has died, but we’re acting like it. Babbo’s going through a hard time. Once he accepts things didn’t go as planned and Y is married to who she loves, things will get better. For everyone.”

No one said anything, but the looks on their faces were clear. No hope for that. I silently agreed. He was so pissed, he killedRomeo and Juliet.

“The book club,” Kerry said, turning the conversation back in the direction it’d started. “I’m down.”

“We could incorporate wine,” Elsa said. “Drinks and romance books.”

“Or margaritas,” Talia said.

“It could be the hostess’s choice to pick the poison,” Alina said. “We pick the snacks for team events when it’s our week.”

“What are we talking about?” Lexi asked, walking into the kitchen, Eve next to her.

Lo started over, and we didn’t mention Babbo after that. But his presence hung heavy over my heart. I took my glass of wine and slipped out, going for the terrace. It was one of my favorite spots in the world. Navy Pier was lit up like a carnival, and my eyes were glued to it.

I jumped and almost lost my wine glass when I noticed Felice standing a few feet from me. I hadn’t even heard him.

“When did you get home?” I breathed out.

He stared at me, not saying anything.

“Everything okay?”

He shrugged. “Depends.”

“On?”

“Your thoughts. They’re far away. Too fucking far away.”

“You can’t chase down my thoughts, Felice.”

“Fuck if I can’t,” he said, charging toward me with all the swagger in the world. He pulled my body into his so hard, I lost my breath. My mouth opened and he seized it. His tongue grappled with mine, and I was snared not even a second later, being, metaphorically speaking, carried back to a place only he could bring me.

His hunting ground.

And just like that, the rest of the world disappeared.

Chapter41

Roma

It had been a week since the grand opening of Lo’s salon, and the intensity in Felice’s eyes never lessened. No matter how many times I’d tried to explain it to him—I needed time to grieve the loss of my only parent, to accept the changes in my life—he refused to truly listen.

He was so focused on what I might do—leave him—that it clouded his thoughts. I remembered how blurred my eyes were with blood when I’d first met him. I couldn’t help but think the same was going on inside of his head. He could only see red.

A color that triggered him to hunt. He was constantly in that mode.

I sighed, pushing the thought aside for later. The reception Tommaso and his wife were hosting for us was that night, and I was anxious enough. We were leaving soon. I applied lipstick to finish my face, spritzed some perfume on, and then stood and straightened my dress.

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