Black

“That’s not what I meant. How are you dealing with your father’s death? I know what that feels like, and I just need to know you’re okay. Or how I can help you be okay.”

Running a strand of my hair through his fingers, Rex smiles softly at me. “I’m okay.”

“Rex.”

He sighs, dropping the strand. “He was a horrible man, and we never had a good relationship. The world is a better place without him.”

“But someone will take his place. Someone else will be there to take over where he left off just like Giovanni took over for my father.”

“You’re right.” Rex nods. “And there’s nothing we can do about it. That’s what this life is about, Shae.”

“I don’t want this life.”

“I don’t want it either. The only life I want is the one I have with you.”

“That sounds really good.”

“Yeah?”

I nod. “As long as you’re in it. Only if you’re in it.”

His eyes close, and when they open, they’re shining bright with relief and happiness.

“It’s me and you, baby. From here on out. Me and you.” Cupping my face in his hands, Rex pulls me in close. “I’m going to kiss you now, Shae.”

“Please,” I whisper, tilting my head.

Rex’s lips press against mine, and my bottom lip trembles because I thought we were over. I never thought I would feel this sort of happiness and love again.

The door to my room creaks open and Dante walks in. Hands buried in his pockets, he lingers just inside.

Rex presses his lips to my ear. “I’m going to give you two a couple of minutes.”

I nod, watching him walk out of the room. When the door shuts, Dante sits in a chair next to my bed.

“I know I’m the last person you probably want to see right now, but there’s something you need to know,” he says.

Swallowing, I nod.

Dante rubs his hands together and blows out a deep breath. “When I was growing up, all I wanted was to be like my father. He was my hero. Even after I was old enough to understand the life he lived, I still wanted it. More than anything, I wanted to be made…until that day outside your house. I watched Sal shoot your father—our father—and I felt that bullet in the marrow of my bones. I saw the look in Luca’s eyes. Rex and I watched the life drain out of him, and when we saw you and Cami running across the yard, we saw your pain. In that moment, everything changed for me. I didn’t want to be the cause of something so horrific. I knew my dad was into some bad things, but I hadn’t known it involved murder.”

Dante looks out the window, and I wait patiently for him to continue. “As soon as you and Cami took off running, he ordered me to kill her. I was just a kid, and my fucking father ordered me to kill someone.” He pauses, shaking his head. “But when I caught her, I froze. I didn’t know what to do, but I knew I couldn’t take her life.”

“What happened?”

“I let her go,” he says, turning toward me.

My heart floods with relief, and I close my eyes. If he’d delivered Cami to Sal, I’m not sure I’d be able to move past it, but knowing he didn’t gives me hope.

“I let her go, and she ran straight back to Sal. She was going to kill him that day, or die trying, and she put up one hell of a fight.”

Opening my eyes, I shake my head. “That doesn’t make sense. If you let her go, why did she run back to him? Why didn’t she come to me?”

“She was trying to protect you, Shae, and the only way she knew to do that was to kill Sal. When she shot him the first time, she hit his knee—enough to drop him to the ground, but nothing that would kill him. Sal was a smart man. He was waiting for me to bring her back, but he wasn’t expecting her to ambush him. Still, he got to the trigger before she did.”

Tears build behind my eyes and fall over my lashes. ?

??She died protecting me.”