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Oh God.

Windows open.

A woman steps onto a balcony.

One of the old men gets to his feet.

“What is happening?” Dex asks.

I cover my face with one hand.

“He’s announcing our arrival.”

“To who?”

The boy cups both hands around his mouth.

“SONO ARRIVATI!”

Apparently the entire fucking town.

Lexy starts laughing.

Even Jude loses it in the front seat, and despite the knot tightening in my stomach, a laugh escapes me too.

The boy races ahead of us and disappears around the corner.

And when we turn after him, I see them.

A row of houses pressed shoulder to shoulder, streets so narrow that opposite balconies are almost touching above them. People are standing outside one of the houses now, spilling from the doorway and onto the pavement.

Waiting.

My laughter dies.

Because somewhere in that crowd are people who knew Damiano before I did.

People who held him when he was a baby.

People who knew the boy before he became my husband.

And suddenly the bitch beside me tightens her arm through mine again.

Yeah.

I know.

Jude turns slightly in the passenger seat and looks back at me.

You okay?

His eyes ask without words, and I nod.

He must see the fear in mine because a second later, his hand slips between the passenger seat and the door, reaching back for mine.

I take it.

Instantly, some of the fear leaves me.