If you choose to wake up while we’re gone, go back to sleep and pretend you didn’t.
Seriously, we’ll be back soon, don’t tell Milan we left.
-Francesco
I read the note over and over again just to tell my brain that they were alive, that they were coming back, that nobody had died. My quiet laughter rang through the empty room as though it was loud, but so did my sobs.
I was crying and I hadn’t even known.
The door creaked open, and I peeked over the thin blankets, expecting to find Adriano and Francesco, but instead I found a delicate, concerned face and a familiar, gentle giant.
“Elena?” I croaked, my voice sounding hoarse. “Matt?”
I hadn’t seen them in weeks, and certainly nottogether. A part of me had wondered if they’d broken up, but when she ran to me, Matteo’s giant sweater falling down her arms and his eyes smiling at us from across the room, my heart settled.
“Oh my god, Sicily,” she whispered, stroking my tangled hair and holding me tight.
She smelled like sugar and Matteo’s cologne. They were risking a lot coming together, and they were risking it forme.
“How—” I started, my throat feeling raw as I spoke. “How did you know I was here?”
“Fiore called us when she was apparently escaping herfiancé’shouse.” Matt stepped forward to sit on the edge of the bed. “Fucking hell, Sicily, I knew that family was fucking crazy.”
My breathing picked up, catching painfully against my ribcage. “You spoke to Fiore?”
Elena nodded.
“She’s alive?”
Matt frowned. “She’s literally standing right outside the door with a pregnant girl.”
Another sob whimpered from my lips.
Everyonewasokay, at least physically, and Bella was still pregnant. Even if the situation was far from perfect, the fact that nobody had diedwasperfect. Everything else could be fixed one day.
“Should I take that as a sign to tell them to fuck off or…?” he asked, his frown deep.
I shook my head. “Let them in.”
Though the thought of Cesare Fera was an angry, fierce beast within me, the sight of Bella, who looked so small and lost staring at me from the doorway, softened it. She had been innocent in all this, too. She had been another victim of the Lucca brothers.
A shaky smile spread across my lips as I held my hand out to her. “Is your baby okay?”
Bella walked in slowly, like she expected me to pounce on her. “All fine, just a scare. A-are you all right, Sicily?”
Was I okay?
Everything that Cesare had done had been terrifying, but through being there, I’d discovered what had truly happened that night, and no contract could silence that.
They had all just been boys, and the trauma that had destroyed them had found peace in each of us girls, evenCesare’s. If I could forgive Milan’s sins because his brain was still healing from being young and abused, could I forgive the Feras?
I took Bella’s hand, pulling her into me. “I’m okay. Did Milan hurt you?”
She shook her head against my shoulder, her own rocking as she cried. “I’m so,sosorry.”
“It’s not your fault, Bella,” I whispered. “He’s sick, isn’t he, Cesare?”
“He needs help, we’re going to get him help,” Bella sobbed. “I didn’t mean to tell him about what you said about opening the school at the gala, I just thought it was a good idea.”
