“Baby, what’s wrong?”

Sirens blare through the phone lines, and my pulse picks up speed with each passing second that Nico doesn’t respond.

“Nico, what—?”

“It’s my dad.” His voice shakes like I’ve never before heard it. “He’s..he’s been hit.”

“Hit? Hit by who? Where are you?” I tug on the ends of my hair. “Babe, just calm down for a second and talk to me.” But I’ve already realized there is nothing I can do to soothe him, at least not from my parents’ kitchen.

After a pause that knots my stomach like a pretzel, he finally speaks. “I went to the house this morning to talk to him. He’s been holding out on me for years, and today he decided to fill me in on everything after all this time. He knew something was happening. He must have. And we argued. I lost my shit with him. Shaye, I told him things, things I never should have said. I was angry and I…I…”

“Take your time,” I whisper, tears springing to my eyes. His words are tumbling out faster than I can process them, and all I want to do right now is wrap my arms around him and squeeze, to tell him everything will be okay.

But I don’t know if that’s true.

Maybe nothing will be okay again.

I try to follow Nico’s jumbled thoughts and then just wait for him to finish. I’ll piece it all together soon enough. I furrow my brow as his voice grows more and more faint. The line cuts in and out, and his words are drowned by the sirens.

“…red light…truck…smashed…internal bleeding…coma…”

An icy hand squeezes my heart. “Oh my God, Nico,” I gasp, my fingertips gripping the back of a counter stool. “Is he…is he—?”

Footsteps clomp down the stairs, and I clap a hand over my mouth, tears spilling from my eyes when my father appears in the doorway. I expect him to mouth something to me, to ask what’s wrong, who I’m talking to. But his eyes just narrow and he grabs his cell phone, charging into his office and slamming the door shut.

I swallow hard and wipe away the tears. “I’m so sorry, baby. Tell me what you need. I can go to your house and talk to your mom…”

His voice is clear now. “No, I have to tell her.”

A lump lodges itself in my throat, and I can barely take in enough breath to speak. “Of course.”

“I fucked up, Shaye. I keep fucking up, and people keep getting hurt. Or killed.” His voice cracks again, muffled by background noise.

“Stop. You can’t do this to yourself. You have to stay positive right now.”

“Everything I’ve done…or haven’t done…is to blame for this. I let this happen. I told my dad he was weak, but I’m no better,” he says, his voice hollow. “I’ll never forgive myself if he doesn’t make it.”

“Don’t even say that!” I snap. “Never, ever say those words. They won’t help anyone.”

“I didn’t take care of what I needed to. I should have done something.”

“Nico,” I say, struggling to keep my voice even. “You did what you thought was best. Please don’t blame yourself. You can’t—"

“I let Luca get away with too much. I waited too long to make a move. I’m the fucking reason why my father is lying on that gurney and why Carlo is dead. Who’s next, Shaye? Because you know this isn’t over. I know it isn’t over.”

A sob lodges itself in my throat, and I swallow hard to keep it from bursting forth. “Then end it, Nico. It’s up to you to stop this bastard. You have the power to take him down, so do it before anyone else gets hurt.” My fingers tremble, my grip tight around the phone. “Just…do it.”

He’s silent for a few seconds, and when he speaks again, his voice is hollow. Flat. Empty. “I’ve got to go. Stay at your house. Don’t open the door for anyone. I’ll call you when I get more details about my dad.”

“Nico, please. I want to be there for you. I’m not staying here. I’m worried about you, babe.”

“I’m worried about you, too. I can’t protect everyone, Shaye. That fucker has already proven it. The only way for you to be safe is to stay away from me.”

“Don’t be ridiculous! You shouldn’t be alone right now. I can be at the hospital in twenty minutes. Please let me be there for you.”

“No!” he roars, and I gasp at the sharp tone of his voice. “I don’t want you here! I want you as far away from me as possible!”

Click.

Tears stream from my eyes as our connection is broken. The strain and stress in his voice makes my stomach clench, and all I want is to wrap my arms around him and assure him that all of this will be over soon, that we can go back to normal and live our lives like we’ve always wanted to. God, I want so much…but is any of it realistic?

He wants to keep me far away.

All I want is to be close to him.

It’s all I’ve ever wanted.

For years, he avoided his true feelings because they would have put me in danger.

Now here we are facing the most ominous threat to everything we’ve built over the past months.

Isn’t it ironic how everything comes full circle?

I won’t let anyone dictate how I should live—not Nico, not my father, and surely not Luca. This is what I’ve been preparing for, and I’m ready to claim my future because nobody on Earth is going to yank that freedom away from me.

Nobody.

I stab at the keyboard on my phone.

There’s been an accident. Nico’s dad was hit. I need to get to the hospital.

Seconds later, Max replies.

I’ll be there in ten minutes.

I pad over to my father’s office door, furrowing my brow at the muffled sounds coming from inside of the room. Dad’s voice gets louder, enough that I can only make out a few words.

“…building contract…time…warning…money…”

I knock, and the sounds dissipate. “Daddy?”

“Come in, Shaye.”

I push open the door and wipe away the tears. “There’s been an accident. Joe’s car was hit a little while ago. It’s really bad.” My voice cracks before the sob erupts out of my mouth. “He’s at the hospital now.”

My dad’s eyes widen before he leaps up to hug me. “Is he gonna be okay?”

I cry into his chest. “I don’t know, Daddy. But I really need to get to the hospital. Max is on his way over here to pick me up.”

Dad rubs my back. “Did Nico say where Joe was going when he got hit?”

“N-no,” I whisper. “I feel so terrible for them. Nico thinks it was Luca.”

“Did you tell Nico I’m here?”

I shake my head, sniffling. “I didn’t expect you to be here this late. I thought you’d have already been gone for the day.”

“Yeah, I had a few things to take care of before heading over to the site.” He ruffles my hair. “I’m just glad you didn’t have to be here by yourself right now.”

“I’m so scared for them. It doesn’t sound good at all.” I pull away to look up at my father’s face. “I know things are still a little strained between you guys, but I’m happy to see that you’ve put the past behind you. It’s so important to me, Daddy.”

“I know, pumpkin,” he murmurs.

The tears roll down my face. “I just hope he comes out of this. That monster needs to be stopped.” I clench my fists as my dad’s grip around me tightens. He needs to pay. And I have plenty of ideas about how to collect on that debt.

“Joe’s strong. He’ll pull through.”

“I hope you’re right.” My shoulders quake, tears soaking through the front of my father’s shirt. “I’m going to the hospital. Max is on his way over now.”

“I’ll come by later. I have to get to the site for a couple of hours first.” Dad rubs the back of his head, averting his gaze. “Listen, don’t mention to Nico that I was home this morning, okay? There’s a delay with one of the contractors that I had to deal with, and it’s going to cause all kinds of issues unless I get it handled as soon as possible. I don’t want him worrying about it, today of all days. He’s got enough on his plate right now.”

“Okay.” I manage a small smile. “I know you’ll get it taken care of, Daddy.”

“I will.” His expression darkens. “I always take care of everything, Shaye. No matter what it takes.”

His tone changes from one of concern to something much more foreboding and my mouth opens to ask why, the question on the tip of my tongue when the front door swings open. Max stomps in wearing a black leather jacket, black t-shirt and black jeans. He looks a little more thuggish than usual. His eyes are narrowed, dark hair sticking up in all directions like he’s been tugging at it the entire way over here, plotting the demise of our enemies.

At times like this, I adore my older brother even more than normal.

“You ready, sis?” He cracks his knuckles and flexes his fingers, a menacing smirk on his face. “I got a feeling that there’s a lot of fucking ass to be kicked today, and I don’t wanna waste any time.”