Page 19 of Iron Roses

Allegra stays behind.

So do I.

The door closes after them with a soft click.

She turns to me.

“Thank you for accepting her,” she says, voice quiet but unflinching.

I don't answer. Instead, I walk past her, hands in my pockets. She follows without being asked. Her boots crunch softly on the gravel path.

“I would’ve gotten her out of Australia myself if I could,” she murmurs, just behind my shoulder. “But as it stands, I can’t even get her out of Melbourne. There are eyes everywhere.”

I stop beneath the arbor where the ivy curls like smoke over the beams. The birds are louder here. They don’t know how many bodies are buried beneath this soil.

I turn to face her.

One brow lifts—It’s a question.

What’s in this for you?

Allegra draws a breath, holds it a moment before answering.

“She is all we have left of Giovanna,” Allegra says, voice tightening. “I couldn’t let her die.”

There’s a flicker in her face when she says it—just beneath the surface. I look away, eyes tracing the line of the hedge before glancing up at the cloud-thick sky.

I nod once.

Her shoulders ease.

“I promise I’ll take her off your hands when it’s safe,” she adds. “I just need her here temporarily.”

She pauses.

“Only you can protect her.”

She doesn’t know.

She has no idea what that girl means. Not yet. Not what binds us.

I lift two fingers in a flick toward the house and then my mouth.

Have a meal before you go.

She reads it perfectly.

“Thanks,” she mutters. Her mouth tugs upward for the first time all morning. Barely a smile—but there’s something warmer beneath it.

We keep walking. The rosemary brushes our sides as we pass. The birds sing above a garden that’s held too many secrets.

And one more has just arrived.

****

The wind stirs the ivy that coils around the balcony's balustrade. Below, Allegra’s car pulls away. Its headlights vanishing into the narrow lane that cuts through the trees. I remain still, elbows resting on the cold stone, watching the last trace of tail lights disappear beyond the archway. Behind me, the door opens.

Lorenzo.

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