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Dante shrugs. “I’m not his keeper.”
“Don’t give me that,” she hisses. “You know going after Marco right now is suicide—”
“Don’t claim to tell me what I know, Francesca Andretti,” Dante says in a low voice, channeling hiscaputoattitude, and I swallow hard.
I don’t want Francesca to get into trouble.
“We’re just worried,” I explain, and Dante’s face softens.
“I know, but you both know that Nico does what he wants. I couldn’t have stopped him if I wanted to.”
I know that’s true, but at the same time, I can’t help being a little angry at Dante for giving him the information about Marco.
Francesca sees the look on my face and turns to me, putting an arm around me.
“Listen, Aurora. Nico’s an idiot for going off like this but he’s also really good,” she tries to assure me. “You’ve seen him in action. He’s going to be okay.”
“You don’t know that,” I whisper. “You don’t know that he’s going to be okay, and I’m here, pregnant with his baby!” My voice raises into an almost shout.
Mia comes out of the bedroom, looking tired but concerned. She takes one look at me and Francesca and puts together what’s going on.
She takes my arm. “Come with me,” she says. “Let’s talk.”
I can hear Francesca still arguing with Dante and think how bold she is to argue with a man who’s as powerful as he is and also has protected us all this time, but I can’t worry about my best friend right now.
All I can do is worry about the father of my child.
“Every time Dante goes out on a job, I worry that he’s going to never come home,” Mia says quietly, leading me to her bedroom and sitting me down on the bed.
I’m nearly hyperventilating and she keeps rubbing my back and I think that’s the only thing that keeps me from falling apart.
“I haven’t told him,” I whisper. “I haven’t told him how much I—” my voice breaks and tears start to roll down my face.
“You love him,” Mia says, and it isn’t a question.
I hitch in a breath. “Is it that obvious?”
She smiles. “It is to me. I’ve been there.”
“But Dante’s crazy about you,” I argue, trying to think of anything else but how Nico might die not knowing how much I adore him.
Mia snorts. “He isnow. But for the longest time, he was just using me,” she admits.
My eyes widen. “What do you mean?”
She waves a hand. “It’s a long story, but I’ll just put it this way: I fell first, andhard. I was seventeen years old the first time I met Dante, and I was lost.”
I swallow hard, understanding. “I feel the same way about Nico, but I was probably even younger,” I chuckle.
“They’re tough guys,” Mia explains. “Wiseguys. It takes them time to figure out what love means, how it’s different than hatred and death. They experience that all the time, and it’s hard for them to change.”
“Nico won’t change,” I mourn. “But it doesn’t matter. I don’t care about any of that, I just want him to be safe.”
“He’s going to be okay,” Mia says.
“How can you know that?” I ask.
“I don’t,” she admits. “But we just have to hope.”
