“Michael will come round,” Enzo assures me.

I’m not so certain. “I don’t know. I in contrast him to my father and stated he was simply as dangerous as him.”

“Do you continue to really feel that manner?” Enzo asks curiously.

Reliving the reminiscences with Gabriella and Enzo jogs my memory that there’s good in Michael regardless of his conduct on the seashore. One detrimental second doesn’t outline an individual, particularly when so many optimistic moments show in any other case. I’m not the type of particular person to guage somebody on that. I don’t have the appropriate to, given my decisions.

“No.”

“Then don’t fear.” Enzo speaks prefer it’s that straightforward and even shrugs a single shoulder for good measure.

“How can I not fear?”

“Due to this.” He holds his telephone out to me so I can learn a sequence of texts between him and Michael that began after we first acquired again to the penthouse.

My eyes blur as I learn the texts a number of occasions over. He loves me. Even after the whole lot, he loves me. And I really like him.

Overwhelmed by a sudden realization, I collapse into Gabriella’s embrace as feelings crash over my battered physique and soul. The tears return, and I do nothing to cease them. As a result of I’m not unhappy. I’m not scared. I’m cherished. I’m free.

And I do know then that no matter penalties would possibly come from this alternative to like Michael, we might survive it. Collectively.

Liam wiggles beneath my hand, pulling me from my sleep. The acquainted scent of a grimy diaper greets my nostril, and I sit up with a grimace. The lounge is darkish apart from the muted gentle and sound coming from Enzo’s telephone. He notices me and units his telephone down.

“Every part okay?” Enzo asks, his voice quiet to keep away from waking Gabriella, who’s quick asleep on the opposite finish of the sofa.

“Liam simply wants a diaper change.”

Liam tells me a narrative in a rush of babbles as I modify his diaper. The acquainted sound of the elevator doorways opening echoes down the corridor. My coronary heart lifts at the concept Michael’s residence, solely to be shattered by the sound of shouting adopted by a ringing gunshot.

“The place is she?”

I freeze as my father’s voice drifts down the hallway. A dozen questions race by way of my thoughts, every one as terrifying as the person chargeable for elevating them. How the hell did he discover me? How did he get into the penthouse? What about Gabriella and Enzo? There was a gunshot. Are they okay?

“Who?” Enzo asks. He sounds somewhat too informal and cheeky, however alive.

“Don’t play dumb with me, boy,” my dad snaps, his anger pushing by way of his tone. “My nugatory daughter.”

“Oh, her? She’s not right here.”

“She’s with Michael.” Gabriella’s voice is like metal and sends aid by way of me, understanding she’s okay, too.

“See, now I do know you’re mendacity. I do know for a reality she’s right here,” Dad seethes. “Yet one more likelihood.”

“You’ve made an enormous mistake,” Gabriella warns my dad with the hearth the DiAngelos are recognized for fueling her risk. “My father—”

“Your father will likely be lifeless by the tip of the night time or beneath such a decent leash, he’ll want he had been lifeless. Now reply the fucking query. The place is Rosaleen?”

They each keep silent, and my abdomen sinks as a result of my father is simply loopy sufficient to do one thing merciless. The bang of a second gunshot cracks by way of the air, and I leap on the similar time that Gabriella screams.

I look again at Liam resting in his crib. He’s somewhat fussy, however the pacifier in his mouth is retaining him quiet. For now. My toes are shifting earlier than I can second-guess my resolution. I can’t enable Gabriella and Enzo to pay for my secrets and techniques, and I’ll do something to maintain Liam protected.

“Inform me!” Dad shouts. “Or the following one goes by way of his fucking head.”

“Cease!” I cry as I stroll into the primary dwelling house. The sight earlier than me guts me. Gabriella is cradling Enzo’s limp and bleeding physique in her arms. She appears to be like up at me in panicked grief, and I rush over. Enzo’s blood soaks my pants once I kneel beside them, however I don’t care. I place two fingers on Enzo’s neck, trying to find a pulse. It’s faint, nevertheless it’s there and regular.

“Properly, effectively, effectively,” Dad drawls. “There she is.”

31

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