Part of me wanted Giorgio there –
But every time I thought about him, I flashed back to how he’d looked in the warehouse, his hands and white shirt smeared with red.
And I remembered what he’d told me:
It’s okay – it’s not my blood.
As though that made it okay.
Thinking back on it now terrified me.
What the hell have I gotten myself into?
I KNEW what Giorgio does for a living –
What these people are –
And now I’m paying the price for ignoring it.
I felt like I might have a panic attack, so I just stared out the window at the countryside.
Suddenly, I felt a hand on my leg. I whipped my head around to find Lucia looking at me.
“Are you okay?” she asked sympathetically.
“I… no,” I whispered. “No, I’m not.”
She nodded. “I get it. It’s a lot. I grew up around this shit, so I’m more used to it, but I know it’s scary. Especially for someone who’s never seen it before.”
Bianca sat up, her eyes red and her cheeks wet with tears. “Emilia, I’m so sorryyou got pulled into this. I really am. If I could do anything, I’d make it so you never got involved in any of this.”
I smiled sadly. Surprisingly, I didn’t have to fake it. “I’m just glad you’re both okay.”
Bianca reached across and squeezed my hand. “You helped save our lives. Thank you.”
“Yeah,” Lucia agreed. “Thank you.”
They were so kind to me!
It was so confusing –
To know they were married to gangsters and wrapped up in this dark world…
And yet they were so sweet to me…
“Giorgio’s going to be okay,” Bianca said comfortingly.
Lucia snorted. “Yeah,he’snot the one who’s got to worry right now. That Neapolitan fucker’s the one who better be worried. Once Massimo gets ahold of him – ”
I recoiled in terror.
I think Bianca knew immediately what was going on with me, because she said firmly, “Emilia, Giorgio saved our lives. We’d be dead right now if it wasn’t for him.”
“Damn straight,” Lucia agreed.
“He’s not like those guys who tried to kill us,” Bianca said. “He’snot.He’s one of the good guys. You have to believe me.”
I wanted to –
