Page 74 of Blood Money

They both kissed me and reluctantly left.

The sky darkened, and a sprinkling of stars blossomed in the sky. The nurse came in later and helped me back to bed. It still hurt, though not as bad as before. When everything was quiet and the lights were dimmed, I dropped my gaze to my lap. Slowly, I peeled the covers back. With my right hand, I gathered my gown in my fingers, making it bunch up until the hem was above my plain white cotton panties. Tentatively, I ran my trembling palm over my stomach.

A tear fell.

My attention slid lower, and I stared at the ugly black stitches that went up my thigh to my hip. I remembered someone telling me that part of the door or the dash—hell, it didn’t really matter—had snapped off and been embedded along my leg. The skin was puckered and angry-looking.

I quickly covered myself with my gown, then lowered the head of the bed but didn’t bother fixing my covers. I turned my head to the side.

A soft cry broke free, and I sobbed until I had no more tears left.

“I don’t want to be here anymore,” I whispered, my throat raw. I was answered with silence. “Why didn’t you take me too?”

No one replied.

“TheFirstTime”—blink-182

Present day….

There was a knock on the door, and with a bright smile, I hurried to let him in. Except when I swung the door wide, it wasn’t the De Luca I was expecting.

“Alessio?” I hadn’t seen him in years, but there was no mistaking the slash of his dark brows as one climbed higher than the other. Or that smirk.

“Hello, beautiful. Can I come in?”

“Ever the charmer.” I swept my hand across my front and into the apartment in invitation.

He stepped over the threshold, and the magnitude of his sheer presence was enough to make the apartment feel claustrophobic. Alessio was charismatic, sweet, driven, and, at times, intense. He was quite a character.

“So this is where you and my big brother snuck around and almost got caught by your nonna, huh?”

My face heated as my jaw hit the floor. “Hetoldyou about that?”

“There’s not a lot about Vittorio I don’t know. He, Gabriel, and I were the closest. Maybe because the twins had each other?” He shrugged as if it didn’t really matter.

“Why are you here? Where’s Vittorio?” Worry crept in, and though I wasn’t sure what was going on, a sixth sense told me it wasn’t good.

“Falling apart, I imagine.”

“What?” My eyes bugged out, and I had no idea what to do. I wanted to shake Alessio and yell at him to stop being so cryptic and tell me what the fuck was going on.

“He loves you, but since he’s not here yet, I’m afraid he’s drowning in some serious guilt and is trying to talk himself into walking away. My guess is he’s telling himself you’re better off without him and away from the mess that is The Family.” He watched me and my reaction carefully.

I clenched my teeth as my hands curled into fists. “Are you fucking serious right now?”

A sad smile lifted one side of his mouth. “I’m afraid I am.”

“Then why are you here?”

He walked farther into the kitchen, trailing his fingertips over the countertop. When he reached the spot Vittorio and I had beautifully defiled, I almost swallowed my tongue as I stood there paralyzed, praying he didn’t know about that too. God, how mortifying that would be. But he kept moving without pause.

He tapped the tray of cookies I’d just made for Vittorio. “Did you make these?”

“Yes. But that doesn’t answer my question. Where is Vittorio, and why are you here?”

He sighed, then locked his dark eyes on mine. “Because I needed to find out if you could handle his darkness, and if you were willing to be the one who would anchor him and pull him from that soul-sucking abyss. If not, then you two won’t work. If you can, then he needs you.”

Without hesitation, I stomped to my room, slipped my feet into a pair of Vans, and grabbed my phone and keys. Then I stopped in front of him. “Let’s go.”

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