But my mind keeps going back to the alley. The way Gerard grabbed me. The way Riccardo pulled him off me. The way he saiddon’t touch herlike he meant it with every molecule in his body.
I pull my knees to my chest, arms wrapped around them. “It should freak me out,” I admit quietly.
“Does it?”
“A little,” I say. “But if you wanted to hurt me, you had plenty of chances.”
He doesn’t answer. He doesn’t need to.
Valerio reappears, tapping the doorframe lightly. “Doctor’s here.”
“What?” My stomach flips. “No. No, I don’t need a doctor.”
Riccardo’s eyes settle on me with a softness that borders on dangerous. “You do.”
“I’m fine?—”
“You fainted,” he says. “Your heart wasn’t steady. I heard it.”
Heat crawls up my neck. “You… heard it?”
He sits beside me on the bed, slow and careful. “I put my ear to your chest last night,” he says. “Your heartbeat wasn’t right.”
The image slams into me: Riccardo bending over me, listening to a secret I’ve buried for years. The secret I’ve kept from Mom because we can’t afford pills for both of us. The secret I’ve pushed through every day, hoping it wouldn’t catch up to me.
My throat tightens. “Riccardo… I can’t afford?—”
“You don’t worry about the cost.”
“But,” I start to protest.
He shakes his head firmly, stopping me. “Your mother can’t get better if her daughter collapses in an alley trying to keep her alive.”
That hits harder than anything.
I look at him, really look, and something inside me gives up fighting. For the first time in years, someone is taking care of me. Not because they want something. Not because they expect me to hold the world together while they watch.
Because they’re worried about me.
I let out a slow breath. “Okay.”
His eyes soften, just enough to make my chest ache.
“I’ll see the doctor,” I say. “Just… stay. Please?”
“I’m not going anywhere,” he says.
And I believe him.
6
RICCARDO
Dr. Bianchi’s face gives me no reason to worry through the entire examination, which is a relief I don’t show. She’ll need medication, he said, but her heart murmur—which is what I heard last night—isn’t bad enough to warrant more for now.
“I don’t need pills,” Savannah says once he leaves. “I’m fine.”
“A medical professional just said you’re not.”
