Page 76 of Pietro

I wrap my arms around myself, still wearing his clothes, still smelling like him.

"Are you hurt?" Sean asks, glancing at me in the rearview mirror.

"No," I whisper. Not physically, anyway.

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

NORA

Sean drives in silence, taking random turns through Chicago streets. I stare out the window, watching the city blur past, wondering how my life collapsed so completely in just a few hours.

After twenty minutes of evasive driving, we pull into a rundown motel on the outskirts of the city. The neon sign flickers pathetically, several letters burnt out.

"Wait here," Sean instructs, disappearing inside the office.

When he returns, he escorts me to room 112 at the far end of the building. Before he can knock, the door swings open.

Uncle Finn.

I launch myself into his arms, burying my face against his chest like I did when I was a little girl. His familiar scent of tobacco and mint envelops me as his strong arms wrap around my trembling body.

"You're safe now, little fox," he murmurs against my hair. "You're safe."

I pull back, wiping tears I didn't realize were falling. "Am I? For how long, Finn? Is this my life now? Hiding in seedy motels, running from the Sartoris?"

The reality crashes down on me as I look around the dingy room with its peeling wallpaper and stained carpet.

"And it's not just Pietro," I continue, pacing the small space. "Dad saw me with him. He knows I've been working for the Sartoris. I'm dead to both families now."

Finn guides me to sit on the edge of the bed. "Your father loves you, Nora."

I laugh bitterly. "Right. That's why he told me to fix my own mess when Declan tried to kill me."

"Connor's complicated," Finn sighs, sitting beside me. "He wasn't always like this."

Memories surface unbidden—Dad teaching me to ride a bike, his strong hands steady on the seat as I wobbled forward. Dad reading bedtime stories, doing different voices for each character while Mom laughed from the doorway.

"He was different when Mom was alive," I admit quietly. "He used to smile."

"Your mother was everything to him," Finn says. "When she died, something in him died too."

I remember the funeral. Dad standing like stone, not shedding a tear while I sobbed beside him. After that day, he retreated into his work, leaving me with a rotating cast of nannies who never lasted long under his cold scrutiny and harsh demands.

"He loved her more than me," I say, the childhood hurt still fresh. "But that doesn't make it fair. I lost both parents that day."

Finn rubs his weathered hand over his face. "Connor loved your mother with a poisonous kind of love, Nora. It consumed him."

"What does that even mean?" I ask, frustrated by his cryptic words.

Finn shakes his head. "There'll be time to discuss all that later, little fox. Right now, we need to plan our next move."

He stands, pulling out a map of the city. "Sean will take you to a safe house later tonight. We need to get you out of Chicago as soon as possible."

I take a deep breath, trying to calm my racing thoughts. "What about Declan? What's he doing now? Do you know anything?"

Finn's face darkens at the mention of Declan's name. He sits back down beside me, his weight making the cheap mattress sag.

"After that day, Declan left the city too. Disappeared like smoke." Finn rubs his jaw. "I managed to detect him out of chance because I have some contacts in New York. They spotted him there about a month ago."