ina'

every part of this place to ash. Each framed photo was a reminder of everything I hated. Men in tailored suits with vacant eyes. Wo

pear into it more than once with papers clutched in hand and shadows r

. Either he trusted the silence of the house

led like old paper and tobacco-like him. Shelves lined the walls, books and files stacked with surgical precisi

ape. Inside: a pistol, a black leather-bound journal,

n and went fo

ransaction codes. I flipped until I found a symb

Ricci. My fa

h the name, just a date: five month

slow, deliberate. What did Luca kno

tst

it back into the drawer, and clos

u

ross the room, tension coi

ething?" he asked, voice

not moving. "You didn't strike

it's worth

oach. He leaned against the frame, arms folded, st

some girl with a

dangerous. "Would i

ou were go

s itched to reach for the journal again, but I'd seen enough-for now. He was hiding s

he kne

a's

he hadn't found everything. That drawer held more than

buried in this house. She was smart, calculated, and angry

was also

d about Ricci.

eps retreat before walking to the

s exactly wher

o the bottom of the dra

de and wild in terror. It was old-six, maybe seven

new who

cc

me anyone s

ed a year after

e asked q

the drawe

ndly. Someone had pointed her toward me. Maybe even fed her just enough

left was: whose wa

e she wasn't the only one

ina'

t was to

ad its own language, something ab

me with careful courtesy and a calculated edge. It

s the grass. The statues-marble wolves and angels with broken wings-seemed t

roke the

or to find Rocc

dn't

th me,"

hy

se I s

cended into the cellar-a place I hadn't seen yet. It smelled like damp earth

etal door. He turned the key and

doing with Luca," he said

u think I'm do

don't last long in this world un

"Maybe I'm not

r creak

bloodied, breathing ha

this?"

s during the attack," Rocco said. "Thought

the corner, si

e?" I

sking the kind of questio

shut. "I didn't-know it was you.

epped f

The one only four people know about. You're either ly

didn't

d to me. "

he was already halfway to death. A

d you?"

ans

rd, crouched to

nt na

ve me

ne I was

le

ut I saw it in his eyes-the flicke

"That's

him go?" Rocco

"But he gave us

an was dragged out, his screams echoi

Luca. "Who

" he said. "Dead.

find out who's dig

I should ask what part o

between us w

ike you leave behind? You think I don't know what it's like to watch y

"I know exactly

eathing the same air.

n easy, right t

oth too caref

I turned and

t need

ed ven

a's

le

ound I thought I'

ntil he disappeared right after Marco's death. Some said he'd taken a b

new the

as a

was com

for

ina disappear

s ice, and together we