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Chapter Seventeen – Luca
“Oh, honey.” It’s the only intelligible thing to come out of Delilah’s mouth before she almost throws herself across her sister’s bed. The rest is lost in a storm of heavy, broken sobbing.
“Do I look that bad?” It’s amazing I can hear a word Deanna says over Delilah’s sobs. She can’t move her head thanks to the neck brace she wears, so it takes her placing a hand on top of her sister’s head to know there’s anything different about her. “Wait. What is this?”
Delilah lifts her head. “Don’t worry about it. I’m fine.”
“What did he do to you?” Though she can’t open her eyes all the way, Deanna manages to shoot a look at me that could melt steel. So maybe she isn’t entirely the weak, submissive sister.
“No, no. It wasn’t him.” Delilah’s hand hovers over Deanna’s face like she wants to touch her but is afraid to. “It wasn’t, I swear. It was somebody else. But we don’t have to talk about that now.”
Her words fall on deaf ears. The girl won’t stop staring at me. “What did you do to her?” Damn. Clearly, her mental functions weren’t affected adversely by her beating. I decide to take it as a good thing while drawing closer to the bed.
“I take it she told you who I am.”
“She did,” Deanna whispers. “And why she was with you.”
“Babe.” Delilah stops just shy of doing backflips to hold her sister’s attention. “That’s not why we’re here, okay? I promise, I’ll tell you all about it later. But right now, it’s all about you.”
Grudgingly, Deanna looks away from me. “I thought I was being smart.”
“What do you mean?”
“Remember, I told you I wanted to pawn some of my things.” Her voice is weak, and I have to wonder how much we’ll get out of her before she loses the fight to stay awake.
“Was it him? Greg?”
A tear rolls down her cheek. “I went late at night. I thought I would be safer. But he was there. I was already inside before I figured out he was there.”
Jock is behind me, growling under his breath. I know he’s wishing the same thing I am, that we hadn’t let him go that day at the garage. Then again, it isn’t like we can be held accountable for other people’s decisions.
But there’s no pretending the world wouldn’t be better off without him.
“I’m so sorry this happened.” Delilah’s crying again, holding Deanna’s hands. “I’m so sorry.”
“It’s not your fault.” Deanna gently but firmly removes one of her hands from her sister’s grip to run it over her head again. “What happened to you?”
Delilah shoots me a quick glance. “Actually, maybe you can help. I was… Promise you’re not going to get upset.”
“You know I can’t promise that.” Already, the beeping from her monitors is picking up speed as her pulse quickens.
“Maybe it’s better if she doesn’t hear about this right now.” As it is, her eyes are closing no matter how she fights to keep them open. “We can talk about it when she’s feeling stronger.”
She would spit at me if she could. “I want you to tell me. Please.”
Delilah lets out a long sigh. “Reader’s Digest version: a guy who was a client of yours mistook me for you. He saw me with Luca and I guess he’s connected to the… underworld somehow.” Cute. “And he hurt me a little, but I’m better now. I really am.”
“Oh, no…”
“You said you wouldn’t get upset.”
“I told you I couldn’t promise.”
Delilah grins. “See, at least we know your memory is fine.” That startles Deanna enough that she manages to keep it together before they both start bawling again.
“Memory,” she whispers. “Why did you bring this up? Did you hope I would recognize him?”
“We’re trying everything we can think of.” I take a chance, moving nearer the bed. The beeping from the monitors picks up speed again. “Nothing to worry about. I only wanted to show you his picture.”
