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Mia shudders as she walks over, even though she’s wearing the hoodie and jeans I left for her. She waits next to me. I watch Ritchie leave, then turn, pulling her into my arms. She gasps in shock.
“What about Luca?” she whispers.
“Relax,” he says, walking over to us. “I know. We all know. Well, me, Elio.”
“Colt,” Mia whispers. “He guessed it anyway. He said he’d never seen you like this.”
Mia takes my hand, a small shiver running through her. I think about asking her what Ritchie meant about sharing a past, but he’s probably just trying to antagonize me. If I react, he’ll know I care about Mia. He’ll use it as fuel for a war. Is she worth a war? She’s worth the world.
“So what thefuckhappened?” Luca snaps.
“He stopped Vito from hurting me,” Mia snaps. “He didn’t mean to kuh-kill him…” She squeezes my hand. I remember what she said about wishing she’d reacted differently. “It was an accident.”
“I couldn’t risk telling Tony what I’d done,” I say. “So I had to act fast.”
“Don’t be mad at him, Luca. It actually turned out to be a fairly good kidnapping.”
Luca shakes his head, laughing darkly. “You two are something else. Mia, tell me something. Were you having a long-distance relationship with Vito?”
Mia lets go of my hand and runs her hands across the opposite arms in an awkward fidget. It’s like she’s trying to peel away layers of the past. Or herself. “It’s…”
“You’re terrified,” I say, wrapping my arm around her. “Mia, he can’t hurt you. I won’t let him.”
“Who, Tony?”
I almost nod but stop myself. It’s not my place.
“Hecanhurt me,” she says quietly, turning toward me.
“No, he can’t,” I snap. “Mia, we’ll keep you safe.”
“I never liked him, Mia,” Luca says. “Elio feels the same.”
“He’s evil,” she whispers, “and he’s always using people. I didn’t believe it before when he let me leave. I was eighteen, an adult, but he could’ve kept me there. I know why he did it now. He wanted me to get close with you all.”
“He can’t hurt you,” I snap. “He’s a drunk. He’s a slob. He’s a nothing. He seems like a demon to you because you were a kid when he started… when he did what he did, but to me, he’s a small, pathetic man.” I squeeze her shoulder, holding her with all the support, blazing almost like love through me. “I’ll end him. I’ll make him disappear.”
“But, but, he’s my dad…”
Tears flood her eyes, and she crumples into the most heartbreaking sobs. Devastation wreaks through me as I pull her into a deeper embrace. Luca looks at me with concern in his eyes. I stroke my hand through her hair.
“I know, Mia,” I whisper. “Believe me.”
“He’s a monster, but I love you. I hate him. How does that work?”
“Believe me. I killed my dad, Mia. I loved him. We used to play catch.” My voice is cold. “But he used to hurt Ma. So I bashed his head in with a hammer. As he bled to death, he made me promise to take care of her. He was smiling, almost like he was proud of me.”
She leans back in my arms, staring up with red eyes. “Dante,” she whispers, just my name, but it somehow says so much.
“People are complicated,” I growl. “We don’t choose what we feel, but we can choose what we do.”
“How did it feel?” she asks, with an edge to her voice. “When you did it? When you stopped him hurting your ma?”
I swallow, looking away. The truth is, it filled me with lightning, conviction, knowledge, and the fierce feeling I’d done the right thing. I’d made the world better with blood, pain, and violence.
“It felt good,” I say quietly.
“He wouldn’t believe it,” she replies, laughing away her sobs. “IfIwas the one who did it. If he woke up somewhere andIwas the one holding the gun.”
