Page 51 of When She Falls (The Fallen)
When I meet his gaze, there’s a graveness to it that makes a shiver of panic creep up my back. “What happened? Are they okay?”
“Vale and Dem left on their honeymoon.”
They were leaving the same day we were supposed to be flying back to New York.
“When?”
“Yesterday.”
An outlandish suspicion starts to build. “And my family?”
“They left yesterday too.”
“They left me here.”
No way.
They wouldn’t.
Ras lets out a sigh and lowers to his haunches in front of me. He wraps his palms over my knees in a reassuring hold. “You’re with me, Gem.”
My chin starts to tremble. I know I should try to keep my emotions in, but my body is so wrung out, I’m incapable of it. “They left me?”
Ras’s gaze is soft as he studies me. “Your father had…important meetings he couldn’t miss.”
“What about Cleo?”
Even if Papà left, she wouldn’t just abandon me here.
“Cleo had to meet some guy.”
“What guy?”
“A marriage prospect, from what I understand.”
I rack my brain for any memory of this. Oh. Ludovico—the stodgy capo Papà promoted recently. He’s been sniffing around Cleo for years. She’s already threatened him once with disembowelment.
Yes, I vaguely recall Mamma mentioning something on the way over here about meeting with him. But was that meeting really so important that they chose to leave without me?
A sob bubbles up.
“Hey, you’ll be okay.” Ras’s palms tighten on my knees. “I promise, I’ll get you all better, all right?” He gets up and comes back a moment later with a tissue. “I’ll go get your meds. You need to take them now.”
I wait until he’s out of the room before I fling myself onto the bed and weep into the pillow.
I’m so weak.
I’m in so much pain.
And my family abandoned me, leaving me with Ras of all people. Ras doesn’t even work for Papà. How did Papà allow this?
After a few minutes, my tears stop, and I sit back up, clutching the bedcover in fear. There’s no way this was Papà’s idea. He would have dragged me on that plane even if I was delirious, which means someone stopped him from doing that.
Vale and Dem.
“Oh God.”
Ras picks that moment to reenter the room. He hands me a little white pill and a glass of cool water.
