“And you think vengeance fixes that?”
“No.But it gives the pain somewhere to go.”
Silence stretched between us, thick with things neither of us wanted to say out loud.
Gianni’s gaze slid back to the floor.
“He was just a kid,” he whispered.“Just a kid trying to prove himself.”
My throat tightened.
“He died protecting his brother.That counts for something.”
“Neve is missing,” Gianni remarked, almost as an afterthought, and I wondered how I missed that fact.
“You think the Russians took her?”
Gianni shook his head.
“The lift in the kitchen was used.I’m sure Atlas put her in there.What happened after she got out is anybody’s guess.”
“We need to find her, Gianni.The moment Atlas wakes up, he’s going to ask about her.”
Gianni closed his eyes.
When he opened them again, something cold had settled behind them.
“Tell me what you’re planning, Marcello.”
I met his stare.
“War,” I told him.
And this time, he didn’t argue.
42
Neve
It was raining when I got to Zelda’s house.
Not a sweet little shower, but the kind of downpour that soaked through skin and bone, burying itself in my marrow.
By the time I reached her gate, I was drenched, hair plastered to my skull, clothes sticking to me like a second skin.The cold didn’t even register; confusion had taken up too much space in my head to let anything else in.
I hadn’t remembered it was Zelda’s date night with Paolo.My brain hadn’t caught up to the reality punching holes through my world.
The front door opened just as I fumbled with the latch.Paolo spotted me first and threw his arms wide.
“Bellissima!”he shouted, delighted.
But Zelda… Zelda took one look at me, and she knew.Before I even uttered a word.Before I understood what the hell I was even doing on her doorstep.
Her smile died.Her eyes widened.Her body went rigid.
And something in me broke.
The rain tapered into a thin drizzle, soft enough that smoke started rising from the warm asphalt.Mist coiled upward, curling around my ankles, blurring the edges of everything.The whole street looked unreal—like a horror film where the protagonist hadn’t realised they were already in the third act.