Page 96 of When We Fall: Part Two

“Learn chess,” Dante said.

“Learn chess.” Asylum mimicked Dante’s voice. “You sound just like him.” He pointed to his head. “No. Fuck you. I’ll choke you with a chess piece. Yeah. Want to fucking bet?”

I had no idea what was going on. The guy was a complete lunatic.

“I’m not.” Asylum focused on me, his voice serious. “I’m my brand of normal. It looks crazy to you, but I assure you, I’m sane. Mostly.”

I licked my lips nervously. He was creeping me out. There was no way he could read minds, but fuck, it sure seemed like it. I was probably going insane in here.

Asylum chuckled. “Cute. Mindreading. Anyway, as I was saying. Granddad. Carmine the Cocksucker. We’re family, kitten. As a side hustle, I listen for Matteo. You know, feed him the odds and ends he’s looking for. I recently acquired the position, and I honestly think I’m just a nepo baby, and my old man is trying to get back into my good graces after cheating on our mom and getting some bitch knocked up who took him to the cleaners and left him with a big fucking child support payment every month. Figured he’d help me secure a future in the family business. I’m not great at driving cars like him. Intrusive thoughts and all that. Can’t help but wonder what it would be like to run over a crowd of people at random.” He let out a wild laugh. “I’m only kidding.”

Fucking hell. He really was insane.

“Maybe.” Asylum smirked at me. “My point is, I’m here because I feel like I need a raise. If you work hard, you get raises. That’s how the real world works. So use the tools for survival if you want to save your friend. It likely won’t save you, but hey, that’s called sacrifice, Foxy.

I glanced at Dante to see him studying me wordlessly. I had no idea what he was talking about. Exhaustion flooded my veins, my eyes heavy. I didn’t even want to try to figure it out.

“I want to go…home,” I choked out. “I need to see my family. Let me go. Please… fucking let me go. Rosalie…”

“You want to save her,” Asylum said softly, finishing my garbled sentence. He was quiet for a moment before he continued. “Lorenzo and Cole lived. Lorenzo was shot in the arm and leg. He was in the hospital overnight. Your sweet girl was shot in the stomach. She had surgery and also survived. She is home with Cole and Lorenzo. She suffers. Anthony and Marissa De Luca are dead. So are many others.”

My chest constricted at his words.

Fuck. Anthony and Marissa were dead. Enzo had to be devastated. Fuck. Fuck. FUCK.

I knew this shit would happen. I fucking told Enzo. I TOLD him!

“To save Rosalie, you know you must die. Without your death, she will never be released from Lorenzo. You need to die to prove to him you were right. To save Ethan. To save Rosalie.You must die. Do you understand?” Asylum cocked his head to the left and studied me.

A tear trickled down my cheek. He was right. I knew he was. It didn’t matter to me how he knew. Maybe I was just that fucking easy to read.

“I want you to know that I don’t like this,” Dante said softly. “My goal is never to hurt my family, and you, Fox Evans, are my family through my dear sister. This entire situation pains me, but on the other side ofthe coinis my girl and her family. So I must do terrible deeds in the name of saving what I love. You know how that is, right?”

I swallowed hard as a soft sob slipped past my lips. I did know how it was. I knew too fucking well.

“If death is what you seek, I think we delivered it,” Dante continued in his low voice. “Do you want to die, Fox?”

I was supposed to be dead already anyway, since I planned to push the button the day after the engagement party. Had Enzo not told me he had a way for us all to marry Rosalie, I’d already be gone.

This was fate.

I was meant to die.

I was never meant to be with my Rosie in this life.

I sobbed softly. “No, I want to go home and be with my family, but I know it’ll never happen. That I need to die to save what I love. I-I accept that.” I paused, the tears falling faster. Ididn’t want them to see me cry. “Please, after you kill me, get E out. He’s a good person. This will kill him.”

Asylum nodded. “He will be saved as much as we can.”

“What have you seen?” Dante murmured.

“It’s cloudy,” Asylum replied, that faraway look in his eyes. “Really fucking cloudy. I only know that he will suffer greatly, but it will change his life in a way he never thought possible. Not all is lost. Not yet, anyway.”

I had no idea what he was talking about. All I cared about was getting E out of here.

“Dante,” I said softly.

Dante stared back at me.