“My uncle wants to speak with you first,” Luca says.“Inside.”
Elio doesn’t answer for a moment, no doubt sifting through all the possible dangers.It’s not often we wander, outnumbered and outgunned, into another boss’s territory this way.Last time we did it was at the boxing ring in the basement of the pub, when Elio fought Darragh for Deirdre’s safety.Because Deirdre is his, and he would have walked through anything – boxing rings or bullets – to keep her.
But Aurora isn’t his.She’s mine.
“You don’t have to come in,” I tell him, already moving unsteadily forward.Luca and the soldier eye me with interest, no doubt wondering what the hell is wrong with me, but I ignore their stares.There’s only one pair of eyes I need on me right now, and they sure as fuck aren’t the ones in the skulls of these Camorra goons.
Luca and the other man overtake me easily, striding ahead to the door to open it.I glance down at my feet, making sure they’re still on the ground, because I can’t quite tell by feel alone at this point.My vision doubles.No.Wait.Those are Elio’s shoes beside my own.
“Not letting you have all the fun,” my brother mutters, though from his grim tone I don’t think he’s actually expecting any fun here tonight.He probably wants to get this over with as quickly as possible so he can get himself back to his pregnant wife in one piece.Fair enough.I want to get this done quickly, too.Before I have the chance to fucking OD again and she slips right through my fingers.
I’m not expecting her to be waiting immediately inside the door, but I still reel a little bit with the force of her absence.Other people are here instead, more Camorra soldiers in a room ahead, playing pool and sucking on fat brown cigars.
“Filthy fucking smoke,” Elio hisses, his scarred jaw tensing.Then, aimed at the soldiers, he bellows, “Put that shit out.And crack a goddamn window.”
The soldiers stare at us, then send shifting glances to each other.
“You heard the man,” comes a darkly silken voice.“Put them out.”
The smoking soldiers jump to comply as their boss Severu Serpico steps into view.He’s got on a well-tailored pair of charcoal pants and a black sweater that looks like it’d be more at home in some expensive shop than moulded to the brutal frame of a mob boss.But even the fancy fucking clothes, the exceptionally fine fabrics and the tailoring fit for a god, can’t take away from the air of cool and calculated violence that clings to this man.His eyes are the colour of scotch, the kind that burns you all the way down, but there’s not a trace of warmth in them.
Aurora isn’t with him.
“She’s upstairs,” he says, answering a question I must have already asked with my eyes.“My sister is looking after her.”
I know just about fuck-all about Sev’s reclusive sister.From what I hear, Sev keeps her locked up pretty damn tight, and as far as I’m aware, she’s never been seen in public.I can’t say that I blame him after his other sister and father were shot like dogs in the street twenty years ago.
And I certainly can’t say I blame him after everything I’ve done with Aurora.The way I’ve chained her to me – sometimes literally – in order to keep her alive.
But I can blame him for keeping her from me now.I already know that I’m running out of time.Can’t tell if it’s withdrawal from her, or the drugs coming back online in my system, but there is weakness in my limbs, and a poisonous prickling that almost feels like a deadening.
I’m halfway up the stairs before I even know how I’ve made my legs move.Severu pushes ahead of me, spinning, then walking backwards up the stairs in front of me, moving so naturally that it somehow becomes unnatural.Uncanny.Like someone’s recorded him walking down the stairs, and is now playing the footage on rewind.
“You’ll forgive me for accompanying you as you reunite with your fiancée,” Severu says, a note of cold implacability in his tone that tells me he doesn’t give a fuck about forgiveness at all.“But I don’t let any men outside of our family into my sister’s room unescorted.”
Elio says something in response, but I don’t really hear it.I’m too busy trying to stay upright, my throat working, my lungs stalling as we reach the top of the stairs.I don’t have it in me to ask which door she’s behind.I’ll just have to rip every one off its hinges until I reach her.
But in the end, I don’t need to.Because one of them flings suddenly open, and like a holy vision from on high, a crack of delirious heaven in my head, she is here.
Chapter6
Aurora
Fiametta’s room has a good view of the street as it curves, but it’s not as easy to see the driveway near the house.So when the dark-coloured vehicle arrives, I can’t tell who actually gets out of it.
“Just stay here until he calls you,” Fiametta says, her hairbrush stilling at the back of my head as I press my nose to the glass.She begged to be allowed to take out my bun and brush my hair while we were waiting, and after a few minutes of her pleading, I absentmindedly took out the pins and told her to do whatever she wanted while I stared out the window.I see her standing behind me now, a ghostly reflection in the glass.
“My brother won’t let you in on the men’s business,” she goes on.“One of the soldiers will stop you from going into his office with them.”She says it with the knowing authority of someone who has experienced just that.
But I can’t just sit here, getting my hair brushed out like some impassive character in a historical novel.And when I hear footsteps, and men’s voices on the stairs, I’m up and on my feet, rushing for the door.I hurl it open and stumble out into the hallway to find three men at the top of the stairs.There’s Severu, and Elio, and between them…
Curse.Oh.
He’s conscious and standing, but he doesn’t fucking look right.Sweat and a sickly pallor cling to his skin.His eyes are unfocused when they land on me.He looks as if he’s about to take a step towards me, but instead he sways ominously.Elio’s hand shoots up to grip him by the elbow, holding him steady and in place.Curse fights it, though, almost falling over entirely as he makes another attempt to get to me, his gaze a fevered, unfocused drag across my face.
“Time to go,” Elio says urgently.“Come on, Aurora.”
I don’t even think about staying put or arguing.Curse shouldn’t be here.He needs to go, to get out, to get treatment.I’m sure as hell not going to slow things down now.
