My pulse spikes. “Found him, how?”What’s going on with everyone?
“Bleeding,” she says. “Pretty bad. He kept ranting. About Savannah. About how she doesn’t know her place.”
Cold washes through me. “You don’t think he hurt her, do you?”
Izzy doesn’t answer right away. When she finally does, her voice is low. “I think he tried.”
I feel lightheaded. “And?”
“And someone scarier showed up.”
That lands hard.
I look around the restaurant again. At the empty spaces where my friends should be. At the bar Rose should be sitting at. At the floor Erin should be gliding across like nothing can touch her.
“Where is Gerard now?” I ask.
“Not here,” Izzy says. “Donald said he needed stitches. He might show up later in the week, but frankly, I hope he fucks allthe way off after this. Even if it means I have to juggle three jobs while we train replacements.”
I try to breathe through it.
Erin and Savannah, at least, seem to be accounted for. Erin carried out by Lucchese himself. Savannah protected by someone scary enough to put Gerard in the hospital. Shining knights, Izzy called them. I don’t love the phrasing, but the meaning lands.
They’re not alone.
That should help.
It doesn’t.
Because Rose doesn’t fit into that picture.
I keep seeing her face from last night. The tightness around her mouth. The shadows under her eyes. The way she kept pretending she wasn’t tired, wasn’t scared, wasn’t holding herself together with thread and stubbornness.
I hear her voice from a few weeks ago, low and careful, like she was testing the words before letting them exist.
I feel like I’m being followed.
The memory slides sideways, turning into another one I don’t want.
Coral, coming home from track practice with that same look. Wired. Taut. Like she hadn’t slept properly in days. Like she was bracing for something she didn’t want to name.
I swallow.
“Did Rose call in sick too?” I ask.
Izzy shakes her head. “She texted.”
My chest tightens. “But did you hear her voice?”
Izzy’s silence is answer enough.
“No,” she says finally.
That’s when I start calling.
And texting.
And calling again.
