“Stay here,” Mom demands. “I’ll be right back.” She storms out of the room with her guard in tow, demanding to know who hired Falco in the first place, and I’m left to the silence of the room.
After a second, I pinch myself to make sure I’m not dreaming.
Falco wouldn’t steal. He wouldn’t try to harm me.
But my brother caught him? Sinking down onto the bed, all thoughts of pregnancy escape my thoughts as I think back to my last conversation with Falco.
“I was hired to protect you. Not to want you. Not to love you.”
“Not to love you.”
Love me.
Does he…love me? Or am I trying to trick myself and justify this sudden chaotic turn of events? Everything since this morning hasn’t made sense, from Falco’s attitude to this sudden confession of drug theft and attempted murder.
Think, Aerin. Think.
This isn’t right.
What would Falco do in this situation? What would Pidge do?
My thoughts stumble over one another until one thing becomes clear, and I rush from my mom’s room, sprinting as fast as I dare with a pounding headache all the way back to my own room. Crashing through the door, I lunge across the bed and snatch up my phone.
I don’t know what either of them would do.
But I know what I’m going to do.
Rex, thankfully, answers on the second ring. “Rex? It’s Aerin. Sorry to call you on this number but it’s an emergency!”
36
FALCO
It’s worth it for Aerin.
I tell myself that while Guido’s fist cracks into my jaw and pain explodes through my skull.
It’s to keep her alive.
I repeat that when his next fist collides with my gut and I double over in the chair I’m tied to, coughing blood onto the ground.
Guido will kill her.
I remind myself of that when another fist collides with my temple and my head snaps to the side so violently that sharp pain shoots up my neck.
Stay quiet. Stay down. Keep it together.
For Aerin.
Behind Guido, lingering in the shadows, stands Giacomo. There’s not an ounce of regret in his eyes, only a flicker of knowing because he understands me. In those few secondswhere I spilled out my false confession to save Aerin, Giacomo understood.
I love her.
And I will die for her.
“You swore an oath!” Guido roars in my face. “I trusted you to protect my daughter and this entire time, you were the rat in my camp! I welcomed you in with open arms, praised you for saving her, and what did that get me?”
Another punch and pressure bursts across the top of my mouth and blood spills past my lower lip. The next punch dislodges a tooth, and it escapes in the waterfall of blood escaping me.
