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All that was left of poor Leo at the moment was a shell of what he used to be.

“Kayne’s dead,” Maria blurted out, hoping to get some sort of reaction out of him since he had been his English teacher. When that information didn’t give her a response, she continued on, hoping to shock him at some point. “Lucca killed him because, apparently, he was an undercover cop and not because I”—She paused a moment, needing to correct the words that had been about to roll off her tongue.—“thought I was in love with him.”

She didn’t know why she was telling him this. At first it was because she was trying to garner some sort of a response from him, but now she only kept talking because it felt therapeutic, and it felt no differently talking to Leo in this moment than it did if she was talking to a wall or the wind.

Closing her eyes, she tried to decipher her numbness, to see which part of it hurt the most—that Kayne had fooled her, his death, or …

“I don’t think I’ll ever forgive Lucca for what he did. Not for taking his life, but for not telling me who Kayne was.”

Opening her eyes when she heard movement, she thought she might be getting a response, but Leo was only reaching his hand out for the cup of water on his hospital bedside table.

Reaching out slowly, Leo tried to grab the Styrofoam cup, but when his hand clenched, it came up empty. His hand-eye coordination had been totally affected since losing his left eye. The doctor had told him it would take a while for him to adjust to his new sight.

“Let me help.” Maria got up from the chair, going to his side quickly.

“No, I can …,” Leo frustratingly spoke his first words to her this evening, trying to grab the cup again and knocking it over, spilling the water all over the table.

“Don’t worry about it; I’ll clean it u—”

“Just leave me the fuck alone!” Leo screamed, swiping his hand across the table and sending the cup and the rest of its contents flying across the room.

She froze in place. It was the first emotion she had seen from him since the accident and the first time she had ever seen her little brother angry like this ever.

Looking into the single blue eye, Maria realized his frustrations. He wanted her to stop babying him, but she was only trying to help.

When she didn’t leave at his outburst, Leo sighed, going back to staring out the side window, hiding the left side of his face again.

Taking a deep breath, she sat down on the edge of his bed, seeing Leo retreat to the shell he had become.

“I’ll never forgive him either,” Maria whispered to the universe, going back to talking about her problems because she sensed it might help. Leo only had people around him focusing on his problems, the constant reminder that he was no longer whole eating him alive. “Dominic locked me in that freezer proving that, not only did he not trust me, but that I can’t ever trust him.”

“No, he didn’t.”

Goose bumps coated her skin, though she didn’t know if they were from the fact that Leo was talking to her or from what he said.

“What?” she whispered.

Leo turned his head away from the window to face her fully, reminding her why they were here. “The door was unlocked.”

Twenty-Six

You Better Pray For Your Soul … Asshole

It took everything Maria had to knock on the fucking door, her knuckles lightly hitting the wood. She glanced over her shoulder, second-guessed taking the taxi here from the hospital. Thinking he wasn’t going to answer, the door suddenly flung open. However, it wasn’t who she expected.

Last time she was here Angel’s other half opened the door, but this time, his twin didn’t look the same. The hallows under his eyes were filled with darkness that matched his grave, gray eyes. She had seen a brief moment of hope when he first opened the door, clearly wanting to see someone else, but then it disappeared at the sight of her. The playboy mask he usually wore had slipped, revealing the real Matthias underneath.

The door being shut in her face had Maria’s jaw dropping to the porch.

Excuse m—

She was ready to beat the door down when the door flung open once again. This time by a different brother.

Watching Matthias walk slowly down a hall behind the other brother, she was about to give him a piece of her mind when Cassius drew her attention.

“Sorry, he’s not feeling well lately.”

Maria’s eyes went to Dominic’s mini-me before they shifted back to Matthias, noticing for the first time how sullenly he walked into a room before he slammed the door.

“Is he all right?” she found herself asking sympathetically to the most disliked Luciano.