Page 131 of Auctioned to the Mafia Don
“I know.”
That is all he says.
Not sorry.
Not a justification.
Just the truth.
My hands quiver at my sides. I want to hit him again. I want to make him understand what he has done. I want him to tell me this is another game, another cruel performance, and that Leon will open his eyes in a hospital room surrounded by agents.
Instead, Stefano reaches for my face.
I should pull away, but I don’t move fast enough. His mouth crashes against mine with both desperation and grief and the same unbearable certainty that has defined everything between us. For one second, I hate how much my body recognizes him. I hate that my hands close in his shirt before I can stop them.
Then he pulls back.
His forehead rests against mine.
“Go with Raven,” he says.
My chest rises too fast. “What?”
“Go.”
“You are leaving.”
“Yes.”
“No.”
“Maya.”
“You do not get to do this.”
“I already did.”
The cruelty of it empties me.
Raven is behind us now. I can sense her presence. Hear the agents moving around Leon’s body. Hear someone calling my name.
Stefano takes one step back. I reach for him. He catches my wrist, presses his mouth once against my knuckles, then lets go, stepping away from me.
The service door behind him swings open.
Omar stands there, soaked through, his face somber.
“Stefano,” he says.
Stefano does not look away from me until the last possible second.
Then he turns.
He walks through the door with Omar at his side.
The lock slides into place behind them.
I stand in the rain with Leon dead at my feet and Stefano gone before I can decide which loss hurts worse.
