Page 126 of When She Falls (The Fallen)
Dem lets out a long breath. “Fuck. All right. Here’s what you’re going to do. As soon as we get off the phone, you’re going to take Gemma to Rafaele. Their wedding is in three weeks. He can take care of her for the time being. I’ll get you a flight out in the next two hours. You need to be on it, all right? This is a fucking mess we don’t want to get involved in.”
It’s what I expected him to say, but it sends a wave of dread through me anyway. “Dem, I can’t just leave Gemma with Rafaele. She’s scared and hurt. She just got beat up by her fucking father.”
“She has Cleo and her mother. Rafaele is duty bound to take care of them with Stefano locked up. His succession will be announced before Garzolo’s fingerprints are taken, and this will become his problem to solve. As soon as you get Gemma to him, your work there is done.”
Panic rises through my lungs. He wants me to leave her. That’s fucking impossible. I have to make him understand that Gemma needs me by her side.
“Rafaele is not going to give her the comfort she needs right now,” I argue. “And you know how her mother is. She needs someone around her who can support her.”
“As soon as it’s safe, Vale will go over there. I know she’ll want to.”
“But when will that be? What happens in the meantime?”
“Damn it, Ras. How many times are you going to make me repeat myself? You have to get out of there. There’s nothing you can do.”
“That’s not true. I can stay here with her.”
“And risk getting arrested? Garzolo might give you up to the Feds just to get payback for what you did to him. You’ve got no support there.”
“The Feds don’t have anything on me here.”
“They’ll detain you anyway. We’d get you out, but why risk it?”
“Then let me take Gemma with me back to Italy.”
Dem makes a frustrated sound. “What part of she’s engaged have you forgotten? To a man who’s just become the don of her damn family nonetheless. You cannot take her anywhere but to Rafaele.”
“What if she doesn’t want to be engaged anymore?”
“Has she said that?”
“No, but I know she doesn’t want this! Why would she marry that asshole to save her Papà when her Papà’s been fucking beating her? This is bullshit.”
“I get it, but it’s a fucking inferno over there right now. Everything is blowing up. This isn’t the time to throw gasoline on the flames. Come back, and we’ll talk it out. We need to let the situation settle before we do anything that could make it worse.”
“Damiano, you don’t understand—”
“For fuck’s sake, Ras. Idounderstand,” he says, his tone turning empathic.
Something lodges inside my throat.
“I do fucking understand, but there’s nothing you can do. I told you to be careful around her, didn’t I? You knew she was off limits.”
“I know.” My voice is hoarse. “But I couldn’t stay away.”
There’s a drawn-out pause. Damiano is giving me time to process. To come to the conclusion he’s been driving at this entire call.
I have to leave. I have to go home.
The door to the clinic opens, and Gemma steps out. A bruise is blooming on her cheek. She looks so strong and fragile at the same time.
The silence stretches until Dem says, “Ras, this isn’t a discussion. This is a fucking order.”
I press the edge of the phone to my forehead. My head feels like it might split in two.
On one side is logic. Duty.
And on the other is a feeling buried so deep inside my gut that if I ignore it, it might rip through my organs and kill me outright.
