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“Mom, how did you get this?!” It’s not just any phone. It’s the phone Alto—no, Roman—was texting her on.

“I found it in your desk. That’s my phone, Jasmine. Give it to me!” She surges up and I dart away from her.

“No. Mom, this is dangerous. You know that. These messages are lies. These messages led to you ki—” The words die in my throat as another message pings through. I open it and my heart stops.

Three messages, each detailing the tail end of their conversation, in which my mother agrees to meet Roman in order to discuss more ways to keep me safe.

“Mom! You’re so stupid!”

“Don’t yell at me, Jasmine! I am your mother, and I am trying to keep you safe.”

“And I told you that the man on the end of this phone is dangerous! I told you to forget about it, ignore it. Why did you go looking for it?”

“Because of the wedding! I couldn’t find your father, and I knew you were in danger, Jasmine. I’m trying to keep you safe!”

My frustration builds, but facing my mother’s tears brings a deep sense of defeat in my chest. She doesn’t know what she’s doing, not really.

“Mom. I am safe, remember?”

“Well it doesn’t feel like it!” Tears fill her eyes. “I’m worried about you, Jasmine. It’s my job. With your father missing, what else am I supposed to do?”

“Mom, Dad is dead. He’s dead and he’s not coming back! And you have to stop, okay? Stop looking for this fucking phone. Stop talking to dangerous people.”

“Language, Jasmine!”

“I don’t fucking care—” It takes all my remaining threadbare control to rein in my anger and sit my mother back down. “Mom.Don’t look for this again, okay? I am safe. You see those guards out there?”

She follows my finger to the armed men patrolling the garden and nods.

“They’re keeping us safe. Me safe. I’m okay, understand?”

Very slowly she nods her head, and then she looks me in the eye with alarming clarity. “I miss Enzo.”

My heart breaks and I surge up, hugging her tightly. “I know Mom. Me too.”

She huddles into me and sniffles while tears leak into my own eyes.

Don’t cry. Not yet.

The phone comes into focus, still clutched in my hand.

If Roman wants to meet my mother then fine. I’ll let him think he’s meeting her.

And then I’m going to surprise him and kill him for messing with her after all the shit he’s pulled.

No more excusing his actions.

I am done.

34

ROMAN

I’m … ashamed.

All my careful planning, all my meticulous calculations and patience, all my determination to avenge my mother, make Santino suffer, and protect the woman I love; it was all for nothing.

I’ve failed.