Page 92 of Caterina
Teresa closes her eyes for one brief second, and when she opens them again, there is no panic left in them.
Only anger. Cold and clear as ice.
Then, from the doorway, another voice cuts through the silence.
“Before the stairwell.”
Adrian.
He’s standing in the entryway, leaning against the doorframe because he’s too stubborn to admit he needs a chair.
Elena is right behind him with a stack of clean towels and a bottle of antiseptic.
“The second volley in the hallway,” Adrian says, looking at me as he speaks. “One of the rounds hit."
Silence.
Absolute, awful silence.
The kind that comes when someone says something that changes everything you thought you understood.
He kept going.
He ran up a flight of stairs. He returned fire. He made sure I was safe.
All after taking a bullet.
And no one knew.
He didn’t even say a word.
He just kept going.
To get me to safety.
I think that’s the moment I truly, viscerally, understood the difference between what Papà’s men are and what Adrian is.
The difference between someone recruited to the life and someone specially trained in the military.
Papà’s men are loyal. They would die for the family.
Adrian would get shot but wouldn't even think of dying until the mission was accomplished.
My stomach lurches so hard I have to press my hand to it. I stare at him, my throat so tight I can’t breathe. There is blood on the bandage taped to his side. Pale. Determined. Still standing like a fool.
Papà turns from the mantel and looks at him. A long, heavy look that feels like it carries the weight of everything that happened tonight.
Elena steps past him, her expression grim but practical.
“You,” she says to Adrian. “Couch. Now.”
Teresa makes a sound of agreement that I don’t even need to translate.
Adrian looks like he might argue for a half-second. Then he seems to think better of it and moves slowly toward the couch I'm sitting on. Every line of his body is tight with pain he is refusing to acknowledge.
I jump up as he approaches, and he sits slowly, carefully.
"Everyone out," Elena says.
