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“No.” He cackled. “I made sure she was dead after the crash.”
My eyes widened. “What did you say?”
“I said I made sure she was dead after I crashed into her and Callie’s dad. He left the scene. I guess he thought she was dead, but she wasn’t.” He shook his head. “At least not till I took care of it. I’m consigliere. I just listened to orders, you know? I don’t make them.” Before he could say anything else, I shot him.
I looked over at Alessandro. “Let’s go.” I could see Callie staring at me. She looked like she was going to pass out. This was definitely her worst nightmare. I’d probably scarred her for life; the old me would’ve loved that. The new me, who knew I loved her, wished I could kill myself right now as well. I’d ruined life for her. She would no longer see the world through the naive, beautiful lens that she did. It would always be marred with blood and evil, and I was responsible for that, and I didn’t think she’d ever forgive me. And I didn’t blame her because I didn’t think I’d ever be able to forgive myself.
“Let’s go, bro,” Alessandro said as he carried the two women out of the room.
“I’m coming,” I said. I walked back over to Jimmy and bent down on my knees. I gave him a kiss on the forehead. “I love you, bro. You’re the best friend a guy could have ever asked for. I’m sorry. You didn’t deserve to go out this way, but I know that you did it for me, and I know you did it because you knew what I didn’t know. I do love her, Jimmy, and I’m going to fight for her. I just hope it’s enough.” Tears rolled out of my eyes and onto his forehead, and I jumped up. I had to go.
35
Callie
I felt like I’d aged twenty years in the last twenty-four hours. Even though I was sitting down in a comfortable chair, I still felt tense and uncomfortable. I stared at the bed. My mother was sleeping. It felt weird to be looking at her alive. She had the same face, except she was more wrinkled now, older, and yet she still had that light that I remembered. I didn’t know how she’d kept it being locked up for all those years. Gia and Imogen were sitting on the other side of the couch, chatting quietly with each other. They’d been so happy to see me. I could tell that their eyes were bloodshot. They’d been crying for a long time.
“I didn’t think I was ever going to see you again,” Imogen said, reaching over and grabbing my hand. “I am so thankful you’re okay.”
“It just feels really weird,” I said, staring at her and then at Gia. “I don’t know how you grew up in this sort of world. I don’t know how you can deal with death and…”
“I get it,” she said, nodding. “I hate this world. It’s part of the reason why Alessandro and I stopped being friends.”
“Oh?” I asked her.
“I’ll tell you more another time,” she said, shaking her head. “I can’t believe your mother is still alive. Have you told your dad yet?”
“No. I’m going to call him later. I need to see him, speak to him. I just don’t even know how to feel anymore. I don’t even know how my mother is going to feel.”
“I know. Mentally, that’s a lot for both of you,” she said.
There was a slight knock on the door. “Hello?” I said, my heart racing, hoping it wasn’t Antonio wanting to come in.
“Hey, it’s me, Elisabetta.” I peeked around the door. “Can I come in?” I nodded, my heart in my throat as I watched her come in timidly. She looked at me nervously and then over at the bed. She walked over to my mom’s side and looked down at her. She lightly grabbed her hand and held it. I could see that she was crying. I stood up, walked over to her, and put my arm around her shoulders. “Is everything okay?”
“No,” she said, shaking her head. “I always knew I didn’t really fit in, but…”
“I know,” I said, nodding. “I know exactly how you feel.”
“My world’s been upended.”
“I know, but I’m your sister,” I said, squeezing her shoulders. “I’m your big sister, Elisabetta, and I’m always going to be here for you.”
She looked up at me, her beautiful face nervous and sad, and I wondered how she would get through the next couple of months and years. The woman she thought was her mother was dead. The man she’d found out was her father just recently was dead, and now she had a mother she’d never known about, and she was born due to a rape. That was a heavy burden to carry.
“Hey,” I said, turning her around to look at me, “maybe we can get an apartment and live together and…”
“I want to join you guys,” Gia said.
“But you’re at Columbia,” I said.
“We can work it out. We can live in Midtown or something.”
“I want to live there, too.” Imogen jumped up.
“How are you going to live there, Imogen? You go to Berkeley.”
“There’s no way I’m staying at Berkeley now. I can’t trust you to not get into trouble again,” she said, giving me a wry smile.
