When my bedroom door unlocks and opens sometime later, I look up with fear flaring in my heart, expecting to see Dad and for him to beat me even harder than Mom did. To my surprise, Damiano comes into my room, and he closes the door behind him. His eyes are hollow, and he can’t look me in the face.
He stares at the key in his hands.
Ice dances down my spine. Why does Damiano have that key? Is the man I love now my jailer?
“I’m so sorry, Lucy.” Every line of his face is hard and resigned.
I get to my feet, my legs trembling. “What do you mean, you’re sorry? What’s happened?”
“I tried to convince Dad that nothing was happening between us, or at least that he should pretend he didn’t see anything, but he was too angry to listen to me.”
I moisten my lips and ask in a small voice, “Will he feel differently when he’s calmed down?”
Damiano raises his eyes to mine, and they’re bleak. He shakes his head.
The tiny shred of hope I’ve been carrying in my heart that everything will be okay dies a painful death. “What’s going to happen to us?”
“I’ve been trying to make a plan, but every solution I play out ends with you dead.” He slips the key into his pocket and comes forward to take me in his arms, and he says urgently, “Do you understand how much that terrifies me? So this is the plan, for now. You have to run. I’ll give you money. You can start a new life somewhere else, and as soon as it’s safe, we’ll marry.”
I stare at him in confusion. “Dad has banished me from the family?”
He hesitates. “This is the only way I can think of to keep you alive.”
I clutch his shoulders. “But you’ll come with me, won’t you? You have to come with me.”
Damiano’s eyes are filled with pain.
“Damiano, please,” I sob. “We can run away. We can be together. Don’t you want me more than you want this life? Don’t you want me more than all this money and power?”
He takes my hands from his shoulders, grips them in his, and says urgently, “You mean more to me than anything else in this world. I would give this life up in a heartbeat for you, but it’s too late.”
“It’s never too late. We can just get in your car and disappear.”
Damiano looks deep into my eyes. “I wish I didn’t have to say this, but it’s better that you know how much danger you’re in. Listen to me carefully. Dad is this close to killing you. If I run away with you, he will follow us, and he will kill us both.”
I reel back in shock. “What are you talking about? We’re his children. He loves you, even if he doesn’t love me.”
“Dad doesn’t love anyone.” He pulls back his sleeve and shows me the viper tattoo inked into his forearm. “You’ve seen this on my arm. All Dad’s capos carry a viper tattoo. If I run, it will be the ultimate betrayal. He will capture me and cut this tattoo out of my flesh or burn it away with fire. He’s ordered me to do this to others who have betrayed him.”
I search his eyes. I don’t want to ask the question that’s on my lips, but I have to. “And did you?”
He pushes his sleeve down and says bitterly, “Of course I did. I had no choice. I always shielded you from Dad’s brutality, but maybe that was a mistake. You have to understand. I swore an oath to Don Carlucci, and if I break it, I’m dead.”
I press a shaking hand over my mouth. “Then what are we going to do?”
Damiano takes my face in his hands. “You have to run, or he’s going to marry you to someone else.”
I feel like I’m shattering into a million pieces.
“But I don’t want to marry someone else. I want to marry you.” The words burst from me, desperate and raw.
“I know.” He pulls me into his arms. “God, Lucy, I know. Dad wants you married to someone who will keep you away from me. Someone who will…” He can’t finish the sentence.
“Someone who will keep me under control,” I finish bitterly. “Like a prisoner.”
“I won’t let that happen. I’ll find a way—”
“Don’t.” I pull back to look at him. “Don’t promise me things you can’t deliver. You promised we’d find a way to be together, but it’s too late.”
