And she is not.
“Gotta…find…her,” I grunt.I try to get to my feet, and only manage it because Elio grasps me with his strong, scarred hands and hauls me up.
“We will,” he says.
“Not we,” I slur.“Me.”
She’s my angel.Under my protection.
I’m the one who owns her.
I’m the one who lost her.
“You?”Elio growls.“Not a fucking chance.Not tonight.You heard Morelli.You could OD again if we’re not careful.”
“So I’ll take that with me,” I reply reaching for the naloxone kit.I can’t even make my fingers close around it properly.
“There were only two doses in there,” Morelli says with a shake of his head, holding it just out of my trembling reach.“The next few hours will be very dangerous for you.We need to get you back to Elio’s where I’ve got more supplies.So we can be ready if you slip back under.”
Fuck Elio’s.Fuck supplies.Fuck the weakness wracking my muscles, making me shake where I stand.
“You won’t be able to do anything for her,” Elio tells me in a low voice, “if you stop breathing tonight.”
I think he’s about to say more, but his phone vibrates, drawing his attention away.He keeps hold of me with one hand, fishing out his phone with the other and bringing it up to the side of his face.The conversation is brief.All my brother says is, “Yes,” then, “Understood,” before he hangs up.“That was Severu Serpico,” he says to Morelli and me.
Then, the words that make me feel like I might fall to my fucking knees.
“I know where Aurora is.”
Chapter4
Aurora
When Severu asks Elio, “Is he still alive?”I’m not sure if I actually hear or just desperately imagine the answer of “Yes” on the other end of the line.Severu nods, though, as if confirming something, and doesn’t launch into a batch of phony condolences.So I had to have heard correctly.Curse is alright.Or, he’s still breathing, at least.
I’m not.The relief I feel isn’t sweet or soothing.It’s a knife through the ribs, spilling blood and stealing the air from my lungs.I’m still seated in the car, the door open between the two Camorra men and me.Woozily, chest contracting, I lean forward, letting my head settle heavily between my legs.Through the sick roar of my pulse in my ears, I hear Severu continue speaking to Elio.
“We’re at my address in Rosedale.I’m sure you know the one,” he says.“I’ll keep her safe for you until such a time that you or your brother can come and fetch her.”
This time, with my ears trapped between my own knees, I don’t hear Elio’s reply.But the conversation must end, because when Severu speaks next, he’s addressing me.
“Your fiancé is alive.The Titones will be along to collect you, and I doubt they’ll make us wait too long.”He moves closer, the shining, dark points of the toes of his leather shoes stepping into my blurred line of sight.“However,” he continues, “I must insist that while we do wait, we do it inside the house instead of out here.I told Elio I’d keep you safe, and I can’t imagine the Titones would react particularly kindly if I let you get shot or abducted right out of my driveway now.”
If I had a little more energy, a little more breath in my body, I’d snort bitterly at that.The only reason he cares about me potentially getting hurt is because of how the Titones would react in response.He doesn’t give a damn about me as a person, about my safety, about whether I actually live or die.I’m some kind of pawn to him.Just like I’ve been to every other man in my life.
Not that I expected anything different.And at least he’s honest about it.Strangely, it makes me actually trust him a tiny bit more.Whatever Severu’s goals in this situation, ultimately, he doesn’t want to piss off Elio and Curse.If he wants to avoid me getting hurt out here, then I doubt he’d have any reason to hurt me inside the house, either.At least in this moment, he seems more business-like than blood-thirsty.Like he’s weighing up my care and safety against everything else that’s happened tonight, and coming to the conclusion that damaging me would come with a very big price-tag attached, one that he isn’t willing to pay.
But is that enough of a reason to follow him inside his house?
Then again, he does have a point about staying out here.If the Titones haven’t found or captured Alessandro, there’s no way to know if or when he will show up again.He could appear any second.
If I have to choose between Alessandro finding me outside or going inside with the Serpico strangers before me…
I know which choice to make.
Swallowing thickly, I lift my head.I take a breath that’s meant to steel me but instead just makes me quiver weakly.Pathetic.I have to be stronger.I have to survive this night so that I can get back to him.
Two sets of hands reach for me – the same but different.They’re the same size; shaped the same way with the same long, almost elegant fingers; and holding themselves in such identical postures that I once again think that they must belong to a father and his son.But one set of hands – Luca’s – is heavily tattooed, while Severu’s isn’t.
