Riccardo and Luna.
My brother and the woman I loved.
I need to move. Need to do something before I tear this whole building apart with my bare hands.
I need to go and face Bruno.
Sophia
My feet carry me through Chicago's streets on autopilot.
A taxi honks as I stumble off the curb. The driver yells something but I keep walking.
I can't unsee what I saw.
Lorenzo's hands on Luna.
Stop. Just stop.
Marina's building appears through my tears. The familiar brick facade with its chipped paint and crooked mailboxes. Normal.
I know Lorenzo has this address. Dante picked Marina up from here. But Lorenzo won't come looking. Not now. Not when he has Luna back.
What am I? Three weeks of obligation. A burden he had to marry to keep the peace.
My finger shakes as I press Marina's buzzer. Once. Twice. Please be home. Please, please be home.
"Yeah?" Her voice crackles through the speaker.
"It's me." The words come out broken.
"Sophia? What?—"
The door buzzes open. I push through, my legs barely holding me up as I climb the stairs. Second floor. Third. My vision blurs worse with each step.
Marina's door flies open before I reach it. She's in pajama pants and an oversized Northwestern sweatshirt, her face shifting from confusion to alarm in a heartbeat.
"Oh my God." Her hands reach for me, pulling me inside. "Sophia, what happened? You're shaking."
The door clicks shut behind us. Safe. Away from him. Away from them.
"I can't—" My knees buckle.
Marina catches me, her arms stronger than they look. She guides me to her ratty couch, the one we bought at a garage sale freshman year. It smells like popcorn and nail polish remover.
"Talk to me." Marina kneels in front of me, her hands gripping mine. "Did someone hurt you? Did Lorenzo?—"
"He was with her." The words rip out of me. "Luna. She's alive and he was... they were..."
Marina's eyes widen. "Luna?"
I pull my hands free, wrapping my arms around myself. "Twelve years, Marina. She's been gone twelve years and the second she walks back in, he's all over her."
"Maybe it's not what you think?—"
"I saw them!" The scream tears from my throat. "Through the keyhole like some pathetic child. Pressing her against the wall. The same way he touches me. The same fucking way."
Marina goes still. "Sophia..."
