Page 44 of Made in Love and Blood

“I did not,” Salvatore replied calmly. “I was advised on the contents.”

“Never saw my face on it. I might wear that mask next Halloween.”

“I can’t decide if you think it’s funny what you did, or something else.”

Nico shrugged, uncaring. “He deserved it.”

“He’ll probably never face any real penalty for what he did, though.”

“You’re wrong,” Nico returned. “Everyone that looks at him sees it now. It’s written in every line on his face. Rapist. That’s what my friend’s girlfriend wanted to do. She said it the morning she came back black and blue. Take a knife, carve it straight across. So, then everyone would know. Now they do. I did that.”

Salvatore stayed quiet.

“I know it was wrong,” he continued, “but I’d do it again.”

“You would.”

“I’m telling you.” He leaned forward, staring hard and unflinching. “I’d do it again. To anyone that needs it. Any fucking day.”

Salvatore blinked, and his chin tipped up so he could look down a bit at Nico. Study him again in that strange way. “Just...unreal.”

“What?”

“In ten years, you’re going to be the kind of man who says that sort of thing to someone, and they’re going to feel it somewhere they can’t protect. Look at them the way you did me right then and say that—say I’d do it again. And mean it the way you do. Terrifying, Nico.”

“It was terrifying to him, too.”

He didn’t need ten years to make it scarier.

Salvatore shook his head as if answering Nico’s unspoken thoughts. “You’ve got a lot of anger and bitterness driving the way you say it and feel it right now. Trauma, too. But you need life behind it, Nico. Real grief. True joy. Loss and love. Experience that only aging brings. When you say that same thing ten years from now, with all that behind it and what you’ve already got going on, the world is going to move for you.”

Nico didn’t know what to say.

Salvatore added, “You need to start realizing what power that has.”

And they needed to move on. Nico couldn’t think about tomorrow, let alone ten years down the road. He was still trying to work on getting through today.

“What’s in the third file, or do you have more questions?”

Salvatore wagged a finger at him. “You hate being made to think. Last folder. Any guesses?”

Nico couldn’t think of any. “Is it bad?”

“You tell me.”

“I mean, I only go to the convenience store and get smokes. I used to give money to the guard at the back of the property to get me some, but I take the Ducati now. I had a bit of cash stashed. Uh, what else?”

Salvatore remained impassive while Nico rambled.

“Oh, I did go to the hospital after the accident. I stayed out of sight and went right back to the estate. I even passed them on the way. They didn’t realize it was me. Just to check on...” His voice trailed off, and his gaze started to Salvatore. “Frankie.”

Oh, he finally got a trickle of something.

Salvatore’s mouth pursed with a swallow. “I bet she needed that.”

“Are you going to tell me something about her?”

“Do I need to?”