‘Don’t!’ Luca pulled me backwards. ‘Don’t touch her.’

Millie dropped her hand as if I had burnt her. She narrowed her eyes at Luca, then at me. They widened, just a fraction, taking in my appearance. ‘What. The. Actual. Bloody. Hell. Is. Going. On?’

‘I don’t know,’ I said quickly. My eyes were telling a different story. Don’t talk about this in front of Cris. ‘It all happened so fast. I think the shooter’s still in there.’

Millie was having a hard time piecing everything together. I was deathly pale and hanging by a thread. Every passing second, I was leaning more on Luca and less on my own two feet. I had to get the wound seen to. I had to lie down. I turned to look up at him, and as quietly as I could, I told him, ‘I think I’m going to pass out.’

‘We have to go,’ he told Millie shortly. ‘Immediately.’

Millie clocked what was happening – well, maybe not the whole thing, but she could see the strength draining out of me and the urgency creeping into Luca’s voice.

‘To Evelina?’ she asked him.

‘What’s Evelina?’ said Cris.

‘Yes,’ Luca said to Millie.

‘Are you OK, Sophie?’ Cris said, watching me now too. ‘You don’t look so good.’

‘I got a fright,’ I said, trying to force my head up straight. ‘I had a panic attack in the bathroom.’

Cris wasn’t buying it exactly, but he was a million miles off the truth and I could tell he was more concerned about Millie than me. Luca started to wheel us off in the direction of his car. ‘We’ll catch up with you later, Millie,’ he said, a note of warning in his voice. ‘You and Cris should head home.’

Millie was watching us closely, whatever she wanted to say clamped down on her tongue. It wasn’t the right time. ‘I’ll come with you guys. Cris, babe—’ She turned around to her boyfriend, fluttered her lashes and made her voice go all gooey. ‘I’m going to go back with Sophie and make sure she’s OK. I’ll call you in a little while.’

‘Millie, I don’t think—’ Luca began.

‘Let her come,’ I hissed. ‘She knows.’

‘She’s a liability,’ Luca muttered.

I pinched him in the arm. ‘She’s my best friend, and trust me, she’s not going to let this go.’

Cris slid his arm around Millie. ‘I’ll just go with you,’ he said, still half perplexed.

‘I’ll call you soon,’ Millie said more firmly. She wriggled out from under his arm. ‘Soph’s having a hard time and I need to be there for her.’

I elongated my face and did the most unattractive grimace I could muster up. ‘I’m so scared, Cris,’ I said. ‘I feel like I might break down any second.’

‘What about him?’ Cris pointed at Luca, but was still looking at Millie. ‘He’s with her.’

‘I don’t care,’ said Millie brusquely. ‘In times like this, a girl needs her best friend. I’ll call you later. I promise.’ She gave him a quick kiss on the lips and then turned on her heel. She took my other arm, and Luca steered us, arm in arm, to his SUV.

Millie dropped her voice. ‘Has she been shot?’

‘Yes,’ Luca said. ‘Just a little.’

‘Just a little?!’ Millie released an impressive string of curses. ‘You have a lot of explaining to do, Falcone.’

‘I told her not to follow me.’

‘Shut up!’ I snapped. ‘Of course I was going to follow you.’

Luca shook his head. ‘You are so frustrating.’

‘Are we going to the hospital?’ Millie interrupted.

‘No,’ I said. ‘It didn’t go into my shoulder.’

‘I’m getting her help,’ Luca said.

‘You’d better be,’ Millie snapped.

We climbed into the SUV. Luca hopped in the front and started the engine.

‘How are you feeling?’ Millie asked me.

‘A little bit like death,’ I said weakly.

‘Don’t even joke about that, Soph. And please tell me I did not see Donata and your uncle speeding away from the school a few minutes ago?’

‘About that …’

‘Oh, Jesus.’

‘Sorry,’ I murmured. The pain was starting to subside, but the heat was still raging through my arm.

Millie frowned at me. ‘When we get to Evelina, you’re telling me everything.’

‘Mil, I—’

‘No,’ she snapped, cutting me off. ‘I don’t know what went down tonight but I know you are in a whole lot more danger than you’ve been letting on, so if you want me to be your friend, then you’re going to have to let me in. No ifs, no buts.’

Luca was watching us in the rear-view mirror. ‘Sophie’s taken a vow,’ Luca reminded her. ‘She can’t tell you anything.’

‘Excuse you?’ Millie scooted forward, her head jutting between the front seats. ‘Luca Falcone, you can shove that vow right up your—’

‘Millie!’ I interrupted, yanking her back. ‘It’s all right. I’ll tell you.’

Millie folded her arms, her narrowed gaze on the back of Luca’s head. ‘You come to my dance and endanger my best friend by going off shooting your gun at random people and then you expect me to wave you off without so much as a single question as to what the hell went on. Meanwhile, my best friend is suffering from a gunshot wound – and let me tell you something, pretty boy, if I find out it was you who shot her, I will yank every perfect hair out of your head one by one and then slam my fist into your face. I swear to God, you’d better hope the explanation for this shitstorm is watertight, because it will be your funeral if—’