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My heart squeezed as I saw this man’s frail body walking in, but even in his state of sickness, each step he took held power. By the time he reached the leather chair that matched mine, his breath was labored. Before taking a seat, he took his time to adjust the collar of his dress shirt over his sleeveless sweater. Once settled, he let out a huff and spoke with the richest Italian accent.
“This meeting couldn’t have taken place in my room, Lucca?”
“Some exercise may do you good,” Lucca replied. “Plus, you’re still around and needed.”
Ilias shook his head, and his eyes turned away from everyone and out the window.
The man noticed Ilias’s gesture. “Still young, I see,” he uttered.
“And still not made,” Ilias jabbed.
“Yet.”
Ilias quickly faced the older man, confused. It seemed the whole room tensed by the one word.
“What does that mean?”
The man ignored his question, and said, “Oh, to be young and clueless.” Then his attention wandered to me. “You must be Davina. Quite the mess you’ve made.”
He knew of me, and I had no clue who he was. And the last thing I wanted was to seem like the clueless woman in this room filled by men.
“Delirium is often a side effect caused by the medication you take, and me causing a mess is not one of them,” I said, thinking it would keep us even.
The room grew silent.
A small grin hid in the corner of his face. “Has anyone told you that you’re observant?”
“Very recently,” I replied, and his smile grew.
“It can be a great weapon, until you mix it with emotion. Sometimes it is best to keep those observations quiet” he coughed, “because now I’ve learned more about you with the only sentence you’ve spoken to me.” My heart hammered at the realization of how much I’d offered without intention. “You were able to know about me with just a glance which means, you’ve lost someone you’ve loved due to this illness. Probably cared for them up until they died. For you to have fled New York without help, says I speak the truth.”
I closed my eyes to compose the feelings he’d brought back, the pain I’d lived through those last years I had to see my mother fade into nothing but a memory. Despite my efforts to keep it all in, the tears threatening behind my closed lids, the tightness of my chest and my constricting throat, I was still capable of grasping who he was.
He, too, had said too much. I’d pieced it all together. It was the way he'd walked in as if this was his second home, the familiarity to the men in this room, his thick accent, the way he and Lucca spoke as equals, and the way he spoke to me as if he’s been trying to teach me instead childing me.
And the only way to be sure was by saying his name out loud. I’d heard it once on the night I’d killed Ugo. The night I’d met Arlo, and though he’d spoken in Russian, a few names stood out.
“Noted, Sal.”
This caused his smile to fully reach his eyes. “You learn quick,” he praised, but made a tsk sound of disapproval and added, “Now, you got to work on not showing it.”
It was my turn to try to hide my smile.
He shrugged toward Lucca. “I like her.”
I peered over Ilias, but his eyes were already on me. All of a sudden, I wanted to be closer to him. With all the ups and downs of today, I needed his strength. I needed to stare into his blue eyes and let them pull me away from it all.
Soon. His lips said silently, and his shoulders relaxed as we stared at each other.
“Are you finished with your lecture?” Lucca asked, getting only a slight wave from Sal. Quickly the tension returned, and my eyes lowered to escape the feeling. “As I had mentioned, men were scattered around the perimeter of the shop.” Lucca’s tone brought my attention back to him. “I was able to find who was in the shop, waiting for you.” His brown eyes held mine.
This got Ilias’s attention, as it did my heart. Just when I thought I had some courage by barging inside this room with the idea to stand up for myself, it quickly vanished.
All it took was the thought of him.
Lucca pulled his phone out and pushed it across the desk for my eyes to see. “Now, why would one of New York’s principe’s be in my streets, and not just a soldier looking for you?”
My eyes fell to the phone.
