AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Chapter 28
Nico
I should be gentler withmia tesorina.I know it, but I can't help myself.
Holding Sybil tightly like this is the only way I can calm down the blindly murderous panic that has pumped through my body since the moment I heard she was gone. I bury my face against her neck, holding her tightly against me as the rain douses us. She's warm. She's with me.
Safe.
But she wasn't. The evidence of that is all over her. She has bruises around her throat, scrapes on her hands, and leaves in her hair. She's fucking shaking.
"Sybil," I breathe, trying to calm her as she grips me tightly like she can't bear to let me go.
I can't let her go, either. Never again. She pulls back to look up at me with the most stunningly beautiful eyes, her face streaked with rain and full lips trembling.
"Ace. And Percy—Nico, they shot them—and God, Giovanni—"
I hush her and scoop her up simultaneously, carrying her back across the street to my building. Maybe it was compromised, but I just killed the last Gatto rummaging around on the first level. It's safe for now. All I can think about is getting her out of the rain and getting her shivers to stop.
I was gone when she needed me. I utterly failed at protecting her as I promised I would. Never again. I don't know how she got here or survived Mad Blood. But here she is.Il mia crudele tesorinafound me. Instead of running away, she ran back.
Carrying her, I step into the apartment and opt for the penthouse, which has no bloodstains or Gatto bodies remaining and where no windows have been broken. She must be freezing. I can't stop looking at the dark ring forming around her throat.
I'm going to kill Mad Blood. I'm going to fucking rip him apart for this.
"Nico?"
"Shh. Everything is okay. I promise."
God, she's too beautiful. Even muddied, drenched, and clearly shaken, she's the most stunning woman I've ever seen. I'm not letting her out of my sight again. The elevator begins to go up, and I lean against the corner, pressing my face into her wet hair and breathing her in.
She was in the woods. That much is obvious. Why was she back there?
"Did you get it?"
Her voice is small. The elevator stops, and I move quickly, bringing her to the bathroom. I turn on the warm water in the shower room, but no way in hell am I about to set her down. Unable to help myself, I sit and keep her on my lap, pulling her close to lend her whatever warmth I have as the water runs over both of us, still clothed.
"Did I get what,cuore?"
"Revenge."
"No."
She pulls away a little to peer at me, a furrow appearing between her brows. I reach out and begin removing small leaves from her hair, using the warm rinse of water to gently brush grime away. “Why not?”
“Plenty of others needed their revenge on him. I already have everything I need.”
“But Percy said you needed it. To becomePadrino. And that you were going to make big changes."
"I can still make big changes."
"But—"
"I don't care if my father decides to pass me his position. Right now, I'm just so fucking grateful that you're alive. Sybil, when Ace said they took you—"
I cut off, struggling to find the words. I can't stand the idea of what could have happened to her. It felt like my world was ending as I left the standoff between families and came here, looking for any hint of where they could have taken her. Ace had already called someone to get himself and Percy out with Giovanni. My phone had been constant, members of my family desperate to reach me, but all of it had been a buzz in the background for me.
Because if I couldn't find Sybil, I would lose myself. I was ready to truly become The Undertaker and bury myself in more violence and bloodshed until I avenged her, drowning the pain of losing her the way my father had.
