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“Maybe we should find out how the sister is, you know, because Juliana must be pretty worried about her,” carried on Danio, oblivious to my scowl at the mention of Juliana’s family.
“For Christ’s sake, Danio, Juliana’s family nearly killed us. It’s their own fault they shot one of their own. I’m not worried about Juliana’s feelings, and neither should you be.”
“But she’s just a girl. She’s not responsible for the actions of her family.”
“Her family is Società Mafia. That makes her our enemy, period.”
Danio tried a different angle. “If one of you guys had been shot, I would want someone to tell me how you were doing.”
“Yeah, I know,” I replied.
Danio just continued to look at me with his big brown eyes. They were just like Debi’s eyes. Gentle and soulful. Fuck. These kids always managed to worm their way under my skin.
“Shouldn’t you be doing something else like schoolwork—I thought you had an English paper due?” I tried to change the subject, not liking the direction this conversation had taken.
“Yeah, I do. I’m heading over to study with Carolinne later,” he said, referring to his best friend, Carolinne Tocchini, before turning back to his laptop. He would stay glued to that screen all day if he could.
I went to find Alessio to ask when the funerals for our soldiers would be held. Danio told me that he was in the gym room. As I made my way to that part of the house, I couldn’t help the images from the CCTV from replaying in my mind.
Had the sniper hit me, he probably would have taken down my brothers next. A shudder went through me. I would lay down my life for my siblings and the thought of my siblings dying shook me to the core and ignited my fury even further.
And the only member of the Società I could exact my revenge on was currently upstairs in my bedroom. Revenge would be the sweetest feeling.
When I came back from talking with Alessio, Danio called me over to show me something on his laptop. “I’ve hacked into the computer systems of the hospital where Jessica Bonardi is being treated. I’ve got an update on her condition.”
Fuck, that boy was too caring for his own good.
CHAPTER 13
MARCO
When I took up a lunch tray up to Juliana later on, I saw that the breakfast tray from earlier was still sitting on the dresser untouched apart from the juice and coffee.
“You need to eat.” I took the plate with her lunch sandwich and brought it over to where she was sitting on the bed.
She was dressed in a simple white t-shirt and blue jeans, with no make-up on her bare face and showing faint smudges under her huge blue eyes. It made her look even younger than her nineteen years and somehow more vulnerable. It reminded me that she was eight years younger than me and had been sheltered all her life—that is, until now.
Perhaps my conscience was pricking after seeing her on the church CCTV taken by complete surprise when she heard the gunshots. Then I mentally shook myself. I was a Made Man—I wasn’t burdened by that thing called a conscience.
She took her lunch plate from me and checked the filling to find it was ham, cheese, and salad, but she continued looking at the food with mistrust. “Did you put poison in it?”
“That would be such a waste—given I can think of far more interesting things to do with you.”
Her face blanched at my words.
“Eat,” I said, nodding toward the sandwich in front of her.
She looked at the sandwich without any enthusiasm. I was beginning to run out of tolerance. She hardly ate anything yesterday, given our preoccupation with escaping L.A., and she hadn’t touched her breakfast this morning. “Have you heard anything about Jessica yet?” she asked quietly, as if afraid of my reaction upon hearing a mention of her treacherous family.
“Eat your sandwich and then I’ll tell you what I know.”
She looked surprised at my response, but she picked up the sandwich and bit into it, eating it all quickly and barely chewing each mouthful before swallowing.
“Slow down. There’s no rush.”
She ignored me and that riled me—she really needed to learn to do as she was told.
“There, I’m finished. Now tell me what you know about Jess. Please.”
