Page 153 of When She Tempts (The Fallen)
I swallow. So Polo still went to Sal after he left the castello. He sealed his fate by doing that. Giorgio would never have let him live.
Not after what he did.
“It sounds like Giorgio was injured in the scuffle,” Vale says.
“Injured where?”
“His leg, I think.”
“How bad is it?”
“I’m not sure. Dem didn’t give me too many details. But he didn’t sound too worried.”
Does that really mean anything? My brother has other things on his mind besides Giorgio. I want to scream. “Why didn’t you ask more questions? Why didn’t you give me the phone?”
Vale helps me up and pulls me into a tight hug. I think she’s afraid I’ll sink to the ground again, but the shock is already wearing off.
“I’m sorry. I should have asked. He was speaking so fast. I could barely get a word in, and then he had to run. He said he’ll call me back.”
A tear slips down my cheek as I clutch onto her. “Giorgio can’t… He can’t die.”
“I know. He won’t.”
Marry me, piccolina. I’m asking you, only you.
It’s not fair. I want to hear him say those words to me, and now he might never get the chance.
I pull away from Vale. “I want to go to them.”
She shakes her head. “We can’t. We have to wait here. Dem was explicit about it.”
The phone in her hand rings, and when she lifts it, we both see my brother’s name.
Vale picks it up. “Hello?”
“Ask him how Giorgio is!”
She nods. “Uh-huh. Okay, I understand. We’ll be on the lookout. How’s Giorgio doing?”
I watch her facial expressions as she listens to the response. When her skin grows paler, something breaks inside of me. I grab her biceps and start shaking her. “What is it?” My voice doesn’t sound like my own.
“He got shot, but it’s just a graze,” she says.
Shot?
I let go of her and take a few steps back.
When you called me from the castello and told me what had happened, I learned the meaning of fear for the very first time.
And now it’s my turn.
I thought I knew fear by now. We’d met on more than one occasion. But it’s never been this cold, this desolate before.
Vale says goodbye to Dem and turns to me. “Mari—"
“I need to be alone.”
She opens her mouth to argue, but I cut her off before she utters a word. “Just for a while. Please.”
