Page 42 of The Fractured

A frown creased my brow, and I shut my eyes briefly. “That’s different.”

“Is it though?” She pulled her arms around her middle and kept her voice quiet. “What will happen if immigration shows up here to take her away. She’ll be blindsided.”

I kept my voice low too, and walked around to my side of the bed, closest to the door. “They won’t come for her if I work with your dad on this case.”

“You could still make it all legal. You could go to immigration and explain her situation. Then maybe they’d grant her that citizenship.”

“And if they didn’t?” I climbed into bed, albeit a little hesitantly. Lily had daggers in her eyes, and though they weren’t aimed at me yet, I felt like I needed to be ready to duck for cover. There was an unwanted edge to my voice, no thanks to the nicotine cravings. “They could deport her on the spot, Lily. Or put her in a detention center.”

She let out a breath and glared ahead. But then it eased. “I know being deported isn’t ideal, and I’m not saying she should be, but would going back to Sicily be so bad? Her parents are still there. She wouldn’t be alone…”

“We lost contact with them. We don’t even know if they’re still in the same place. Or alive.” I rubbed my forehead. “If none of this other crap was happening, I would do it all properly. I’d take her to Sicily myself and help her apply for that citizenship again. And then we’d come back.”

“She deserves to know.”

“She deserves better than any of this,” I muttered sharply.

Silence fell between us, and I hated every second of it. One sidelong glance at Lily instantly hit me in the gut with guilt.

She was chewing her bottom lip, staring ahead with glassy eyes. How many times had I seen Mom with that same look after one of Gio’s drunken rampages?

Shit.

“Hey, look at me.” I shifted closer and took her face in my hands. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to patronize you.”

She shook her head and wiped her tears, but kept that eye contact. Those pretty blue doe eyes were another of my weaknesses, and seeing them this sad and torn made me feel like I kicked a puppy.

“I’m a fuckin’ prick.”

“No, no, you’re not. I get what you’re saying. I get why you would want to keep her out of all this. I don’t even know why I’m crying. Well, I do, obviously, with everything— I’m frustrated because I can’t do anything. If it wasn’t for my dad, if he’d done as he promised and kept you out of all this.” She inhaled shakily. “I could’ve punched my father in the face today and probably wouldn’t have felt bad.”

I released her face and brushed a tear from her cheek that she missed. “I already did.”

She sniffled and frowned, wondering if she heard me right. “What?”

“The day he brought me in for questioning, when he blackmailed me.” I offered her a slightly sheepish smile.

Lily blinked a couple of times, processing as she sat back in silence. Only to start giggling, which flowed into full, breathless laughter.

The corners of my mouth twitched as I watched her, relieved she was okay but slightly confused by the sudden change. “Lily?”

There were happy tears in her eyes this time as she shook her head but continued to laugh, wrapping her arms across her middle again, like before. As her laughter died out with sighs and fading smiles, something crossed her mind, and her attention went to her arms. Her stomach.

Her amusement was quick to fade.

So did mine as I watched her.

“Shit,” she groaned, quickly kicking back the covers and jumping out of bed.

I straightened, all amusement gone as I tracked her. She was clutching her lower abdomen as she made the run to the bedroom door. My worst thought was that maybe it was her wounds. Or complications from them. “Lily, what’s wrong?”

She reached the door, throwing a grimace over her shoulder right before she left. “I think I got my period early.”

Chapter 14

Lily

The weekend went by in a haze.