Page 72 of The Doctor

“But I do.” She forced her teary eyes to meet mine. “They raped me, Clara. They murdered my mother and Benito, and they raped me. And their friends took out three of Benito’s lieutenants and a handful of other Syndicate men and their families, your grandfather and Zeno’s father included.”

Was it possible to feel the blood drain from your own face? I was sure it was.

“Your father was orphaned that night, as were I and many others in the Syndicate.”

“I didn’t know.”

Nadia smiled sadly, then picked up the nail polish once more. While she finished fixing my nails, Mario hovered behind her.

“Did they catch the killers?”

Mario’s eyes flared, I was sure of it. But just as quickly as it happened, that look was gone. He gave a tight smile. “Paulo and his friends hunted every last one of them down.”

“And the remaining lieutenants?”

Head tilted to one side, he narrowed his eyes. “What do you mean?”

I swallowed down the lump in my throat and forced my question around it. “How did they feel about Paulo taking over the Syndicate?”

“It was his right.” Lips tight. Face pinched. Eyes flashing the way they had earlier. “He was Benito’s heir. It was his right to take it over.”

Nadia reached for Mario’s arm, giving it a squeeze. “It’s said that Ada Fierro stood up for him when the lieutenants tried to step in.”

“My…” Mario shook his head. “Paulo did what they were too cowardly to do. He’s the one who hunted down those men. He’s the one who took care of Nadia and Carmen, sent his friends to look out for our mothers and our sisters. They stayed locked in their saferooms, then complained when they didn’t get the keys to the golden kingdom instead of him.”

It started again, the scratching at the back of my head. Like some wild creature was trying to get out. Trying to wreak havoc upon the world.

“Were you locked away in a saferoom too?”

Mario’s brow furrowed and his lips tilted toward the floor. “Yes.”

“Mario, you were seven—”

“So was Zeno!” He shook Nadia off his arm. “Zeno was only seven. He’d just watched his father get shot in the face and his mother get shot in the arm, and yet he’s the one who took care of you. He’s the one who tried to keep Father from taking you away.”

“There was no stopping him.”

The three of us jolted at the sound of the new voice.

Of Zeno’s voice.

He stood in the doorway beside a wide-eyed Michele, somber and anguished and more handsome than any man had the right to be.

“Zee!” I was off my bar stool and across the room before Nadia could yell out a warning not to ruin my nails.

But I didn’t care about my nails.

Not when Zeno wrapped me in his arms and held me so tightly against his body. He let me drape my arms around his neck, and he pressed a kiss to my temple before a low chuckle rumbled through his chest. “Did you miss me, kid?”

I couldn’t even speak, any words I wanted to say weren’t forming in my head. Instead, all I saw were visions of him as a child, watching the back of his father’s head explode all over a wall just as Jayden’s had.

Of him watching his father’s body fall limply to the floor.

Of him staring down a murderer when he was nothing more than a kid.

“I’m sorry,” Mario said from behind me, and Zee loosened his grip enough to shake the man’s hand.

“Don’t worry about it. There was nothing either of us could do.”