Inferno(72)

Something flitted across Luca’s face – a passing shadow, an unreadable emotion. His jaw tightened, but apart from that he barely blinked. ‘Is that so?’

‘Apparently.’

‘And she told you all of this?’

‘Yes.’

‘Without provocation.’

‘She wants me to help her,’ I repeated, feeling the dim heat of embarrassment in my cheeks.

He narrowed his eyes. ‘Does she know you have no experience with weapons?’

I held my palm up, the cut facing him. ‘I would have thought that was obvious.’

He didn’t smile.

‘She’s so angry, Luca,’ I said, feeling the betrayal sing in my words. Donata would have my head for this. She’d have my head for even stepping through these doors, but if I was going to pin my hopes on anyone in this whole mess it sure as hell wasn’t going to be her. ‘Her grief is driving her crazy. She wants to destroy your family. Soon.’

Luca’s eyes darkened. He studied me in the silence.

‘That’s all I got,’ I said quietly. ‘That’s it.’

His concentration broke. I could see the mask shifting – the barrier coming down, unsmoothing his features. He scrubbed a hand through his hair, his fingers pulling at his temples as he closed his eyes. ‘A bold move for the Marinos,’ he murmured, a frown twisting on his lips. ‘What is she playing at?’

‘What will you do?’ I asked, fear spiking in me at the idea of a retaliation, at how quickly the blood war was escalating. If Eden was anything to go by, it wasn’t like the Falcones were shy of grand bloody gestures. Nothing was too bold for them.

He stared at me, his tone deceptively level when he said, ‘I won’t let her harm my brothers.’ There was a short silence, then he closed whatever he was thinking off from me, and instead asked, ‘What will you do, Sophie?’

I looked at the ground, at the majestic crimson falcon. Something crumpled in my chest and I felt the sudden urge to cry. I wasn’t a Marino but I wasn’t a Falcone either. ‘I’ve said it now. There’s no going back.’ I paused, collecting myself, and then conceded, in little more than a whisper, what we both plainly knew already. ‘She’ll probably kill me for it when she finds out.’

Luca dipped his head but I decided not to look him in the eyes in case I projectile-cried all over him. ‘Sophie, are you asking me for our protection?’

I knew when he offered me his help outside the prison that it wasn’t without trepidation. I knew it wouldn’t be easy – he had said as much – but I needed it now, and if it cost me my pride to ask him, to ask all of them, then I would give it, because my mother and I were desperate. This was our strongest option, and that, in itself, was terrifying.

‘I just … I need somewhere for my mom and I to hide until this is over.’ I paused, drilling down into what I really wanted. ‘I need to disappear.’

‘I’m not a magician.’

‘No,’ I agreed. ‘You’re more powerful than that. You’re the Falcone underboss.’

He didn’t deny it. He started chewing on his pinky nail, his expression turning contemplative. I zeroed in on the scar above his lip. Suddenly my shoulders felt impossibly heavy, weighing me into the ground. Why wasn’t he answering me? Because I was crazy, that’s why. But I had cast my die. ‘I didn’t mean to freak you out—’

‘I’m not freaking out,’ he cut me off. He wasn’t, I realized. He was completely serene, calm like a lake, and I was choppy and stormy and desperate. ‘I’m thinking about how I’m going to do this.’

‘Do what?’ I was halfway between him and the front door, in purgatory, and it was hard to tell which direction was hell.

A wry smile twisted on his face. ‘How I’m going to convince my family to protect Jack Gracewell’s niece and Michael Gracewell’s wife.’

‘Oh.’ Well, when you put it like that … My face fell.

A laugh rang out, echoing along the walls and crawling up the back of my neck. Felice emerged from somewhere behind me. ‘Isn’t it obvious, Luca?’ he said, his voice filling up the foyer. ‘We have to call a Council.’

The sound of more footsteps carried into the foyer – this time from above us. Had they all been there, listening, this whole time? Nic and Gino appeared at the top of the stairs. ‘What’s going on?’ asked Nic, peering over the balcony.

I waved up at him. ‘Guess who,’ I sang, feeling monumentally awkward.

He nearly fell over the banister. In lightning speed he descended the stairs, coming to stand beside Luca. Gino trailed behind him. ‘What’s going on?’