Page 59 of A Trap So Flawless

I stare at my shaking hands. They’re covered in blood. Just like they were the last time I tried to save him.

But I only have one set of hands.

I can’t help them both. There’s no way to do CPR on Papà and try to slow Darragh’s bleeding at the same time.

I have to choose.

Before August, I would have done whatever it took to save Papà while Darragh died alone on the ground. Because I was a Titone and I knew my place.

But I’m not a Titone anymore. Papà made me a Di Mauro.

And Darragh made me love him.

I retrieve the sweater and press it as tightly as I can to Darragh’s wound. Then, holding it in place with one hand, I use the other to fish his phone from his pocket and dial 9-1-1. As sirens wail like demons in the distance, I straddle Darragh’s chest and squeeze his neck so hard I feel like I’m strangling him.

And I beg him not to leave.

Chapter 23

Darragh

I must be dreaming, because I’m with her. I smell her. Hear her voice.

But I’m dead.

Someone must have fucking slipped up big time. Someone left their post and let me steal through Heaven’s gate.

Gate…

Like the Titones’ gate.

Valentina.

I order my eyes to snap wide, but they only open a tiny crack. I blink heavily, lethargic and sore. My tongue is fused to the roof of my dry mouth. I try to say her name again, but there’s no sound.

But somehow, even though I fail to call her, she must hear me. Because suddenly, there she is, a dark-haired vision in the blinding light. Her face hovers indistinctly before mine.

“Darragh?”

My eyes slide shut.

Heaven. I swear it’s Heaven.

Or if it’s Hell, I never want to leave.

The next time I open my eyes, it’s easier. My head is clearer, though my mouth is still dry as fuck and I feel like I got kicked in the head by a horse. And the shoulder. And the back.

Do the Titones have horses? Maybe I got fucking trampled.

I take in the room from my back on a bed. It’s a private hospital suite.

But this time, Valentina isn’t in it. Panic sluices, because what if I really did just dream her before? And she’s trapped somewhere without me? With the putrid ghost of her undead papà?

It’s coming back to me in scattered bursts of blood-stained light. Valentina and her daddy and that bright October sky.

I don’t remember anything else. Why the hell don’t I remember anything else?

I have to find her.

---