Nobody replied.

Romero spoke to my sister in a soothing voice. “Calm down, Lily. Everything is okay.”

Really? The scene in front of us told a very different story. Nothing about this was okay.

Of course, Lily wasn’t to be calmed. Romero gripped her arm and Luca went to help him, but she was fighting them like an animal. How could such a skinny girl fight off two men?

Romero slung his arms around her chest, trapping her arms against her sides, but that didn’t stop Lily from kicking out at him and everything around her, and she still didn’t stop screaming at the top of her lungs.

“Shut her up! Aria will hear,” Luca growled. He tried to catch her legs but she lashed out and kicked his chin. He stumbled back, more from surprise than anything else. Of course they could have subdued her easily if they hadn’t been so careful not to hurt her. I took a step in their direction, worried that they might give up the gentle approach soon, but the ground tilted under me and I had to grip the wall again.

“Lily,” I said. “Lily, stop.”

She didn’t even hear me.

The tall, muscled guy took a few steps toward them as if he was going to interfere, but Matteo pushed him back. “No. Stay out of it.”

I’d forgotten about Matteo, but while I had watched Lily, he’d managed to clean his hands. They were still pink but at least not smeared with blood. His eyes settled on me but I had to look away. I couldn’t return his gaze right now. I had a feeling I wasn’t far from pulling a stunt like Lily and going bat-shit crazy on them. The coppery scent of blood hung like fog in the air, clogged my throat and nose, seemed to sink into my skin, bury itself deep in my body with the horrible images.

Lily managed to kick off the wall, causing Romero to stumble back, lose his balance and land on his back with Lily on top of him. He grunted and lost his hold on my sister. She pushed to her feet, a look like a hunted animal on her face. Her gaze passed right through me.

“Lily, calm down,” I tried again.

She tried to storm past Matteo but he was too quick. He grabbed her wrist, and wrapped an arm around her waist. Then she was suddenly on her back and he was kneeling on her legs and had her hands pinned above her head. Luca headed toward them with a syringe in his hand. That was the final straw.

I stumbled toward them despite my wobbly legs. “Don’t hurt her!” I hissed. “Don’t you fucking dare hurting her!”

“I’m trying very hard not to hurt her, but she’s making it difficult. Luca now!” Matteo growled from his spot on top of my sister.

I blocked Luca’s way. “What is that?” I pointed at the syringe.

“Something that will calm her down,” Matteo said.

“Get out of the fucking way.” Luca brushed past me, knelt beside my sister who was still struggling against Matteo’s hold, and pushed the needle into her arm. It didn’t take long for her to grow quiet and stop struggling. Matteo released her wrists and sat up. Lily whimpered before curling into herself and starting to cry silently.

“I hope you all burn in hell,” I whispered harshly as I knelt beside her and stroked her hair. Matteo watched me with unreadable dark eyes. There were a few specks of blood on his throat; they seemed to be all I could see.

One of the Russians started to laugh. For a second I considered punching him in the face. I wasn’t even sure how he was still capable of any sound the way he looked.

Matteo shot to his feet and got right into his face. “Shut the fuck up, or I swear I’ll cut your dick into pieces while you watch.”

“Romero take Liliana into her room and tell the Doc to check on her,” Luca ordered, his voice already back to business.

Romero lifted Lily into his arms, and she actually pressed her face into his chest and sobbed. He was the last person she should seek out for comfort. He was one of the fucking reasons why she’d freaked out in the first place. Maybe she didn’t even realize who held her.

I stood as well to follow after them. I wouldn’t leave my sister alone with any of them. Luca gripped my wrist. “I want to have a word with you first.”

“Let me go!” I snarled but he didn’t budge.

Matteo grasped Luca’s forearm. “Let her go.”

Luca and he stared at each other for a moment, then I was finally free but now Matteo was blocking the stairs. I still couldn’t look at his face. I glared at Luca instead. “I need to go to Lily. Maybe you didn’t notice but she had a breakdown because of you sick fucks.”

“She’ll get over it,” Luca said dismissively.

“Do you hear yourself? You make me sick. Lily won’t ever get over what she saw today. She’ll probably have fucking nightmares for years, only because of you.”

Luca smiled coldly. “If you want to blame someone, blame yourself, because I have a feeling she was only down here because she followed you.”

“Luca,” Matteo said in warning. “It wasn’t Gianna’s fault.”

It was my fault, at least partly, but I would never admit it in front of them. If it weren’t for their sick business, nothing of this would have happened. I decided to switch to attack-mode. “I wonder what Aria will say when she finds out what happened.”

Luca narrowed his eyes. “You won’t tell her.”

“Oh, I won’t?” I asked. I had absolutely no intention of telling her. She didn’t need the extra baggage, but Luca didn’t need to know that. Matteo stepped between his brother and me, and touched my arms. I jerked back as if he’d burnt me. “Don’t touch me ever again.”

“I really don’t get what you see in her,” Luca said.

“Luca, stop provoking her,” Matteo hissed, then he turned his dark eyes on me. “You can’t tell Aria. It won’t serve any purpose, only make her miserable.”

“Maybe she’ll decide to leave him.” I nodded toward Luca.

“Aria won’t ever leave me,” Luca said quietly. “She took a fucking bullet for me today. I almost lost her. I won’t ever lose her again. And I won’t let you ruin things between us.”

The worst thing was that I knew he was right when he said Aria wouldn’t leave him, not even when I told her what I’d seen today. It wasn’t as if she didn’t know what kind of man Luca was and what kind of things his men did on his orders. He’d killed and tortured for her before, and she still loved him. Somehow she could forget the monster and only see the man when she was with Luca. I was pretty sure I couldn’t do it. I could hardly meet Matteo’s gaze.

“I won’t tell her,” I said eventually. “But not for you. I’m doing it for her. I want to see her happy.” And for some fucked up reason Luca was making her happy, happier than I’d ever seen her. For her sake, I would pretend.

Luca turned to Matteo. “Take her to her room and make sure she stays there until Scuderi comes to pick them up. I don’t want her to make another scene.”

I bit back a snarky comment. “I want to see Aria. She needs me.”

I could tell that Luca wanted to tell me ‘no’ but he surprised me when he said, “You can stay with her when I’m not around.”

“It’s not like I’m eager to be in a room with you.”