Page 122 of Till Death Do Us Part

He shook me, hard. “I know who your husband is, so you will get out this alive, but you will tell me, or your friends will—”

Mr. Chen was creeping behind him, but he sensed it and blew the stuff again. Maybe it was my imagination, but it seemed to sparkle. Mr. Chen hit the ground. Mrs. Chen ran and fell next to him, trying to slap him awake.

“Roma!”

We both turned at the sound of Elsa’s voice. The man flung me on the floor. I couldn’t even hold my hands out to lessen the impact. When I hit, it felt like every bone in my body cracked. I was seeing the world from a floor view, my cheek to it. I could see Fredo and his gun, but I couldn’t move.

Maybe Elsa had noticed it and was running for it. The man caught her by the hair. He yanked her back, and it seemed like her feet were paddling backward. He was yelling at her to tell him where it was, but her voice was muffled, and I couldn’t make out what she was saying.

Whatever it was, he didn’t seem to like it. He started beating her, and there was nothing I could do to help. There was nothing any of us could do. It seemed like the entire room was dazed with whatever he’d been blowing in it.

The door opened, footsteps pounded, and feet started to move in my central line of view. A set of them stopped and yanked the man off Elsa.

She fell to the floor, her hair saturated with blood. It was pooling and running on the tile, reaching Fredo. The shoes were stepping in it. The masked man seemed to be bouncing between two sets, like he was stuck between two walls punching him. His pouch was on the floor. He groaned and cried out. It sounded as if something was ripping him apart.

Knees hitting the floor came into my view, blocking the scene, before arms hauled me up. “Felice?” I whispered. Something was tied around his face, and it was blood splattered, but I’d recognize those eyes anywhere. They were crazed.

“My little herbivore.” He said my name like it held the scariest question known to man.

“I’m okay,” I breathed, then passed out in his arms.

Chapter43

Felice

Aknock came at the hospital door. Emanuele Corvo stuck his head in and then entered, holding a hat in his hands. He looked gaunt. Haunted. Exactly the way I looked when I was separated from my wife, and she had to sneak around to keep him in the dark about us. I wouldn’t deny him this, though.

I meant it when I said my wife was off limits in this game between me and Alfonso. Emanuele made himself a player when he denied me my other half, pinning another man’s sins on me.

Roma was still sleeping. I took her hand, kissed it, then left the room.

Cassio stood with his back against the wall, hands in his pockets. We were both stained with blood. His eyes were far away.

“Any word yet?” I stood next to him, assuming the same position.

“Not yet.” He shook his head. “Seems like I’ve been in this place too many times to fucking count in my life. Every time, it’s a woman I’m waiting on.”

He’d been here a lot when his wife was sick. He didn’t mention it, but I could tell he was thinking it. It wasn’t something he talked about often.

“Roma?”

“They’re monitoring her, because they’re not sure what the powder is, but she’s stable. Sleeping. I wouldn’t be out here if she wasn’t.”

“I saw Dr. Corvo go in,” he said.

I nodded and left it at that. “What happens next, Cassio?”

He sighed and shrugged. He seemed to be plotting his next steps.

He’d taken Ms. Lang and Adelasia to the zoo earlier to get Ms. Lang out of the house for Roma and Ms. Hall. From my understanding, the relationship between Ms. Lang and Cassio was strictly business. Adelasia never tried to bite her, which meant she liked her, and Cassio desperately needed someone who the kid even tolerated to help take care of her.

Ms. Lang seemed to know how to push Cassio’s buttons, though. I had no fucking clue how or why, and I refused to go there. But Ms. Lang had gotten herself into some trouble. It was no secret her parents were struggling. She was an only child helping bear the responsibility of helping them—with money and her father’s ailing health.

Cassio had found out she’d stolen and then unloaded a valuable antique on the black market. He’d confronted her about it at the zoo. To sum it up, she told him to mind his fucking business and quit the babysitting gig.

He was pissed about it. A few blocks away from her place in China Town, he pulled to the curb and did some research. The thing she’d stolen was worth more than money to the people who’d been looking for it. It was worth blood in their opinion. They believed it held mythical powers.

Cassio had called me and told me what was going on. He said he had a bad feeling about it.

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