Page 154 of Mafia and Gold Digger

“Milena, just cut her some slack, yeah? She’s just trying to do what’s best for you all, and it’s not always easy for her.”

“I know. She’s just…” Her voice drifts off.

“Very Emerald?”

Milena gives me a small smile. “Yeah, exactly.” And with that, I let us into the house and carry Giulietta upstairs, with Jaspar and Milena following us.

Milena heads straight for her room, and twenty minutes later, I’ve gotten both Giulietta and Jaspar tucked into bed.

“Is Em going to be here to take us to school?” Giulietta asks sleepily from where she’s burrowed into her pink down comforter.

“I don’t know.” I don’t want to lie to her.

“Will you take us, Mr. Saint?”

“Of course.”

“Good.”

“Don’t worry, Giulietta. I’m here to stay. I’ll even make you something good to eat for breakfast.”

She gives me a sleepy smile. “Goodnight, Mr. Saint.”

“Goodnight, kid. Sleep well.”

My footsteps are heavy as I walk down the dark hall toward my empty bedroom. Exhaustion weighs down my body, but my mind is whirling. Shucking off my shirt and pants, I lay on the bed, staring up at the ceiling.

I can still smell her in the bed, and my heart squeezes in my chest. I check my phone one more time. No news. No hints as to where she could be. I’ve got the best guys tracking her down, but there’s nothing so far.

I bite back a wince at the pain in my sternum. If I didn’t know better, I’d have thought it was heartburn. But I do know better. The hollow feeling, the emptiness that seems to be seeping into my bones the longer she’s gone, just keeps growing and growing. Eventually, it’ll swallow me whole again, and like twenty-four years ago, I’ll have to claw myself out of it.

Only this time, I don’t think I’ll survive it.

I toss and turn all night, eventually waking in a cold sweat of nightmares featuring my parents and Emerald. Shoving up from the bed, I try to forget the image of a dead Emerald lying beneath Carmine’s boot.Fucking Carmine Cicconi. Rubbing my tired eyes, I know it’s time to get up, and with lead-weighted steps, I make my way downstairs.

The smell of fresh pancakes fills the air as Jaspar and Giulietta talk around the breakfast table while Milena taps away on her phone with intent concentration.

“Milena, can you braid my hair?” Giulietta asks her with a hopeful smile.

“No.”

“Braids look dumb,” Jaspar interrupts.

Giulietta glares at her brother. “They do not!”

“Do too!” Jaspar yells.

“Do not!”

“Do too!”

“Do not!” Giulietta shoots him a look that could make hell freeze over. “And Jaspar, if you want your stuffed crocodile to still be alive by the end of today, you better not say anything else about my hair!”

A look of alarm floods Jaspar’s face as he clamps his lips shut. Giulietta can be utterly terrifying when she wants to be.

She flicks her hair over her shoulder with a look of satisfaction at Jaspar’s silence before turning back to her sister. “Please, Milena? Em isn’t here to do it.”

“No.” Milena is adamant. “I’ve already made you breakfast. Anyway, my friends are here.”

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