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Her mouth trembles before she loses the fight.

She takes my face in both hands and holds it hard. Tears are running down her face. Not pretty. Real. Beautiful.

"Don't you — don't you dare⁠—"

"Bella."

"Don't you dare say if. Don't you dare."

"Okay."

"Say when."

"When."

"Say it again."

"When I come back."

She pulls my face down to hers and kisses me.

It is not soft. Her mouth opens under mine. She is crying into it, shaking with it, but she does not pull away. She bites my bottom lip, not hard. Kisses the place afterward. Then she comes back harder, angry enough to keep standing.

I take the kiss the way she gives it. No gentleness. No pretending this does not hurt.

When she pulls back, her forehead stays on mine. Her hands are still on my jaw. Tears keep running down her face.

"You better," she says. Her voice shakes. "You better get back to me, Valentino Conti. You hear me? You walk through whatever door you have to walk through, and you come back to me."

"Yes."

"Say it like you mean it."

"I mean it."

She kisses me once more. Short. Hard.

Then she steps back.

She wipes her face with the sleeve of my hoodie, then she lifts her chin. "Okay," she says. "Call Luca.”

CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

Valentino

Ilight a cigarette before I call Bruno.

He picks up on the second ring. "She's moving."

"Good."

The smoke tastes like nothing.

"You're being relocated," he says. "Four hours from now. Fabio has the route. You'll get the details in ninety minutes, memorize them, then the phone gets burned. You don't argue with me on this one, Valentino."

"I'm not arguing." That gets him quiet. "Four hours."

"Fine," he says, but his tone says he's thinking too hard. "What the fuck happened between you and Amanda?"