“At home in my closet.”
Damiano nods decisively. “Then we’ll go there, pick it up, and get you some clothes at the same time. Dad’s still in surgery.”
My heart skips a beat. Nodon’t worry, Lucy, I’ll protect us both. Noit’s dangerous for you to be armed. Justlet’s get your gun. Simple. Equal.
I wrap my arms around Damiano and kiss him. “Do you know how much I love you?”
He smiles and kisses me back. “I hope it’s a whole fucking lot, because that’s how much I love you.”
When we arriveat the hospital, me dressed in jeans and a sweater and carrying my gun in my purse, and Damiano wearing fresh black clothes, Dad’s still in surgery. Mom and Ariana areseated in a small, bleak waiting room that’s empty apart from them. The harsh neon light turns Mom’s mascara-streaked face pale and greenish. She and Ariana are still wearing the dresses they put on this morning for the wedding, and our sister’s gown is crumpled.
Mom’s been dabbing at her tears with a tissue, and as soon as she sees us, she gets to her feet and clenches her fist. Completely ignoring me, she says shrilly to Damiano, “I had to deal with this all on my own, Damiano. Where were you?”
All on her own? Ariana is right there.
Damiano explains that we came as soon as we could, while I wonder why it’s just the two of them in this room.
“Cristiano isn’t here with you?” I ask Ariana tentatively, and she shakes her head. “Has he at least called to ask how you are? How Dad is?”
Again she shakes her head.
I know a Barone just killed a Montoni, but that’s not Ariana’s fault. I thought after Cristiano decided not to kill Damiano, he would have checked in on his bride. Montoni men are the worst.
While I’m feeling sorry for Ariana, Mom’s watching me and Damiano through narrowed eyes. She seems particularly interested in what we’re wearing.
“I know what you two were doing while your father is fighting for his life,” she accuses. “You were screwing, weren’t you? You both make me sick.”
I fight to keep my chin raised, even though a little voice is saying in the back of my mind that all this is my fault. I should have realized Dad isn’t as strong as he seems, and I shouldn’t have put him through public humiliation today.
“At least Lucy has the decency to look ashamed of herself.”
I take Damiano’s hand and squeeze it. “I’m not ashamed of loving Damiano. I just wish Dad was all right. I never wanted any of us to get hurt.”
“You have lost the right to address him as your father after what you’ve done, you little whore.”
“Don’t you dare call Lucy names,” Damiano seethes.
“Mom, stop it,” Ariana says in a small voice, gazing down into her lap at her clenched hands.
But Mom isn’t anywhere near done. It’s plain that she’s been dying for us to get here just so she could lose it at us. “Carlucci and I invited two demon children into our family. I wish I could turn back the clock. I’d leave you both in that shabby little foster home.”
“Mom,stop,” Ariana exclaims louder, both hands clenched on her bridesmaid dress. She stares up at Mom with pain and confusion in her eyes. “Dad’s heart condition is not their fault. What was Damiano supposed to do today? Andreas tried to rape Lucy. Of course he had to kill him. Dad should have been right by his side.”
I’m surprised to hear my sister defending us.
Mom gives an angry, dismissive shake of her head. “It was all a silly mistake. Lucy is so dramatic. She tells lies. She shouldn’t have been parading around her bedroom in her bridal lingerie.”
Tears well up in Ariana’s eyes as she realizes the truth. “You knew about what Andreas tried to do to Lucy, didn’t you? And you and Dad still wanted her to marry him? If Cristiano tries to rape me, will you still insist I marry him?”
“Don Cristiano would never do that to a good girl like you.”
Ariana stares at Mom in total disbelief. “Sure, because Cristiano loves mesomuch. You’re marrying me to a complete stranger just because he’s the most powerful man in Malus, apart from Dad. You don’t know the first thing about him, and you didn’t know the first thing about Andreas either. When you found out, you did nothing to protect Lucy. I thought the Barones were all about family, but we’re not.” She puts the back of her hand to her face as she struggles not to sob.
Ariana is scared, I realize.
Absolutely terrified of the man she has to marry. My heart goes out to her, and I wish that she and I had found some common ground over the years. I think I’m starting to like my older sister, and I wish there was some way I could save her from marrying Don Cristiano.
Ariana glances between me and Damiano. “I think you’re both messed up, but at least you have someone who loves you and will protect you no matter what.”
