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“I got shot, Maria is dead, and Luca’s not in great shape. The doc is meeting us at the safe house,” Frankie gruffs out, clearly in pain himself.
Keller tosses his phone at Frankie. “Call Sienna. Make sure they’re in their rooms. I don’t want them seeing this,” he growls.
I turn to Grayson. “He needs a hospital, not just a doctor?”
“It’s not safe there, not now. We need to know Romano’s whereabouts. Our doc is the best, don’t worry. We even have a setup for surgery in the basement.” He keeps the pressure on Luca’s wounds.
I can’t bring myself to look at them. As soon as Frankie cuts the call, I swallow the bile in my throat and ask the question I don’t know if I want to hear the answer to.
“What about Eva?”
The car falls silent and I know.
I look up and Frankie turns in his seat, the pain obvious on his face. He opens his mouth, and I cut him off, stroking my hand through Luca’s hair for some sort of comfort.
“Don’t say it, Frankie.”
“I’m so sorry.” He balls his jacket and presses it against his shoulder.
I look down at Luca.
My whole body starts to shake violently, and I let it all out. My sister’s gone, Luca is dying on my lap, and it’s all my fault.
I should have taken her place.
“I’m sorry, Luca. I’m so sorry.” I hug his head.
We pull up outside our new home, and I can’t move. Not even when Grayson takes Luca from me. They’re talking, but I can’t concentrate.
Frankie opens my door. “Come on. Luca needs you.”
I take his hand and he helps me out of the truck. I look at his bleeding shoulder and a fresh wave of pain hits me.
“You’ve been shot,” I sob.
He pulls me into his hard chest, wrapping his good arm around me.
“I need you to listen to me. You’re a fucking Falcone. We are strong. We are powerful. You, Rosa, are the strongest of us all. After everything you’ve been through, you amaze me. We need to go in there and be strong for Luca. We can never bring back the people we’ve lost, Rosa. It’s life. We can’t let it kill us. You did everything you possibly could for Eva. You always have. Don’t let this break you.”
I press my face harder into his chest. I can’t bear it.
“What if he dies, Frankie? I can’t sit in there and watch. I can’t do it, Frankie.”
He strokes my back. “Rosa, if the worst really does happen, don’t you want to be by his side? I’d give anything to have been there to hold Leila’s hand when she took her last breath. Don’t let him down. Not now.”
I release my arms and step back, wiping away my tears with the back of my hand. “Take me to him.”
He nods, his hand quickly putting pressure back on his shoulder.
“Hey, isn’t that really painful?”
“Extremely. I’m waiting for Grayson to fix me up.”
I roll my eyes, of course.
I follow him to the door, past a crowd of armed guards.
* * *
