Page 164 of Anti-Heroes in Love Duet

“No.”

“Lena…you should tell your man. He is not the type to take such a thing well, I think.”

“Exactly, so I am not going to tell him.”

“You and Daniel kept secrets from each other. Do not repeat the cycle,” she advised.

My entire body moved with the heaviness of my sigh. “I don’t want him to see me as some victim, Mama.”

“No one, knowing you, could think that. No one loving you would ever entertain that even just for a moment.” When I didn’t respond, it was her turn to sigh. “Okay,ragazza, you do what you feel is right. I send my love to you and to Dante,va bene? When you come home, he comes over for Sunday dinner,si?”

“Si, Mama,” I agreed, suddenly homesick for her like a child taken away to overnight camp. “Ti amo.”

“Sempre,” she murmured back.

Always.

After we hung up, I decided to respond to Beau’s text but left the others, too exhausted to deal with explanations or drama.

Elena:Met D’s Italian family. They greeted us like royalty. It was…odd.

Beau:Damn straight, they did. Queen Elena. Now, that’s a name I could get behind. Do best friends get royal privileges too?

I blinked at the phone, my lonely heart warmed by the reminder that no matter what, even an entire ocean away from them, I still had a few beautiful people who would always have my back.

And when the tears pushed again at my ducts, I didn’t wipe them away.

I was in a deep sleep, the kind where dreams were so vivid you could taste them, feel them on your fingertips. In the dream, it was deep night, the shadows thick as spilled ink, and Elena was there wearing a traditional Italian lace veil over her head. In the dark, I couldn’t tell if it was the white of a wedding covering or the black of a funeral shroud. I tried to get closer—walking, then running, and finally sprinting toward her with a portentous feeling crushing my chest. All I knew was that if I didn’t get to herright then, she would die, or she would never again be mine to have.

Both options were disastrous to me.

I woke up with adrenaline coursing through my veins, my muscles coiled tight beneath my skin even though I didn’t move a muscle. Elena was in my arms, her warm, sleep-heavy body pressed the entire length of mine, her lips parted over even, soft breaths that fanned against my face. The sight of her black silk eye mask and ear plugs made my lips twitch with mirth and warm intimacy. I tried to relax, to let the sight of her beauty soothe me like some lullaby back to sleep, but there was a lingering prickle of dread creeping up my spine that I couldn’t shake.

I’d just closed my eyes again when there was a faint creak, soft as breath.

My lids flew open, and my entire body turned to stone.

I stopped breathing.

Seconds later, there was a sharp but mutedcracknear the locked doors to the patio.

Slowly, with infinitesimal movements, I rolled onto my back away from Elena, careful not to jostle her awake. There was a gun in the nightstand, but I didn’t dare reach for it when I couldn’t be sure if the intruder could see me from his or her vantage point. If they caught movement, they could fire indiscriminately, and I didn’t want to endanger Elena.

So, I waited.

My pulse thundered in my ears, but I strained to hear every shift of air beyond it.

Finally, after a long moment, I caught theshushof soft soled shoes against the wooden floor.

They were crossing to the bed.

I risked slating one eye open, peering through the low lid to gauge the distance.

He was twenty-five feet away, close to the doors. I could just make out the entire door handle on the floor, knocked out with quiet tools so they could swing the door right open into our room.

How they knew where to find us in the colossal house spoke of resounding betrayal.

Someone had turned rat.