right in the eyes. As soon as she inhaled, he pressed his mouth to hers, kissing her roughly, stealing the air back out of her lungs. His hand drifted down between them, stroking her, bringing her to the edge. She gasped, arching her back, orgasm rippling through her.
Dante wasn't far behind, grunting, slamming his hips against her a few times before stilling, breathing heavily. Gabriella hugged him, holding him, not wanting to let go.
He pulled out, not letting go of her, tugging her into his arms, onto his chest, as he rolled over onto his back. Still, nothing was said as they lay in silence.
Gabriella could feel the sorrow closing in around them.
She wished, more than anything, she could chase it away, but she felt powerless to stop whatever was happening.
Sleep caught up to Gabriella eventually, the sun shining through the bedroom window when she awoke. Groggy, she rolled over, shielding her eyes from the light, tangled naked in the sheets. Alone. As soon as that struck her, she sat up and paused. Dante sat on the edge of the bed, fully clothed, his head down as he stared vacantly at the messy bedroom floor. "Dante?"
"I trusted you," he whispered. "I thought you trusted me, too."
"I do."
"Didn't trust me enough to tell me the truth. Didn't trust me enough to tell me what you knew."
"Gavin said—"
"Fuck Gavin. You're my girlfriend. You're not supposed to keep secrets from me."
"I didn't want to, but it wasn't safe. Your father—"
"Is dead. He's dead now, so it doesn't matter. It wouldn't have mattered then, either. I wouldn't have put them in danger. I told her… the last time I saw her, the last time I spoke to her… I told her she was on her own. I told her I couldn't help her anymore. And it would've been nice... it would've been really fucking nice... if one of those times I was grieving my sister you would've had the heart to tell me she was okay, that she'd made it on her own, that I hadn't doomed her."
Gabriella stared at him, stunned, her hand grazing along his back before he stood up, moving out of her reach. "Dante, please."
"I need some time to think."
"Time," she said, "to think."
"I need to clear my head, to figure out what all of this means for me, because right now, I can't make sense of it, so I need some time."
"How much time?"
"I don't know," he said. "I'll let you know when I figure it out."
"Where will you go?"
"Home."
He walked out, leaving her sitting there, tears stinging her eyes as she whispered, "But this is your home."
"Toto, I've got a feeling our asses aren't in Kansas anymore."
Genna stared out the side window of the Lincoln as those words tumbled from her lips, accentuated by an icy cloud of breath. The heat in the car was hardly working, likely something she screwed up. It hadn't been a problem in the southwest, where it didn't seem to get cold enough to run it, but New York's frigid temperatures were proving to be her nemesis.
"Tell me about it," Matty muttered, drumming his fingers against the steering wheel. He'd taken over driving not long after they'd set out on the road. It had been a long trip… more small towns, more rundown motels, and more evading local police. Same ol' shit. While the car wasn't exactly stolen, it wasn't legal, either. It hadn't been registered in years, the Illinois license plate affixed to the back damn near older than her. "It looks like a war-zone."
"It is," she said. "That's why Dante calls it ground zero."
Dante…
The mere thought of him made Genna's chest tighten.
The closer they got to New York, the more her anxiety acted up, nausea brutally rocking her during the trip. She blamed it on 'morning sickness', although that had long ago gone away, seeing as how she was nearing the end of the pregnancy. She was a wreck, unsure how to act, unsure what to think when it came to her brother. They'd barely been on speaking terms when he disappeared, finding themselves on different sides of a battlefield in a war she wanted nothing to do with, a war he'd spent his life fighting, a war—judging by the look of the streets as they drove along—that hadn't relented at all.
Little Italy.
Gone was the sunshiny neighborhood full of friendly faces and familiar shops. Buildings were burned down, windows boarded up, streets blocked off. Matty had filled her in on a