Page 67 of The Prices We Pay
“And her apartment?”
Sebastian pulls out his phone and sets it on the counter, showing us a grainy photo from the hallway outside her door. “Two guys. They’re wearing the same uniforms for the cleaning company her building uses. They had a key to her door and walked right in at 10:23 a.m.” He swipes to the next picture. “And at 10:34, they walked out.” One more swipe. “I was able to get an image of one of the guy’s faces off his reflection in the elevator door.”
I lean closer to take a better look. “Motherfucker.”
“Big and blonde,” Enzo adds. “And if that’s who I think it is, he sure as shit talks funny.”
“Damien,” Dante growls.
“Looks like it,” Sebastian confirms.
“He’s going to wish I killed him that morning in the coffee shop. I swear to fucking god.”
“Guys, what in the actual fuck is going on? None of this makes any sense.” Dante runs his hand over the back of his head. “I mean, why are the Russians stealing from us? Why are they fucking with Joe? Why did they take her dad’s letters? Why is he even sending them to her? To us?”
He looks at the three of us, and we all look at each other. But for the first time since I don’t even know how long, none of us have answers. And I think I can speak for all of us when I say it’s really starting to piss me the fuck off.
Out of the corner of my eye, I watch Josephine come down the stairs in nothing but a white towel. She stops about halfway with her phone in her hand, looking like she saw a ghost. “I had a missed call while I was turning on the shower. It was from an unrecognized number out of Montana. There was a voicemail, so I listened to it, thinking it might have been from Jasper,but—but it wasn’t.”
Enzo stands up from his stool. “Who was it, Sweetheart?”
“It—” she swallows harshly. “It was the Montana State Prison. They called to let me know Dad was released from prison. Three days ago.”
35
Sebastian
“Okay, I’m with D. What the actual fuck is going on?”
I hear Enzo, but my eyes remain locked on Josephine’s. “Joe?”
“Yeah.” Her voice cracks. “Umm, I’m just gonna go shower. I’ll—I’ll be right back.”
“Amore Mia, wait—” But before Dante can finish his sentence, she’s sprinting back up the stairs and into Luca’s bedroom.
Suddenly, I realize my friends are all staring atme. “What?”
Luca’s deep brown eyes, the ones I’ve grown to love with my entire being, stare into mine. “Go. Help her.”
“We will get dinner sorted, and when you come down, we’ll come up with something,” Enzo adds, and Dante nods in agreement.
I quickly refocus on Luca, wanting to make sure he’s one thousand percent okay with this. “Are you sure about this, Baby?”
Leaning forward in his seat, he drops his forehead against mine and says, “She needs you. She needs what you can give her. Go.” Luca kisses me deeply, and as much as I sink into it, we both know I need to get to her, so we make it quick.
“I love you,” I say softly against his lips.
“And I love you, Mio Re.”
In the blink of an eye, I am up on my feet and jogging across our apartment, up the stairs, and into Luca’s bedroom. One I spend just as much time in as my own. I’m across the room when I hear her sob for the first time, and it almost sends me to my fucking knees. Quickly, I take off my clothes, leaving them scattered throughout the room as Imake my way to the bathroom. Once I’m left in only my briefs, I slowly open the bathroom door, not wanting to startle her. But she doesn’t even see me. She’s sitting against the wall of the shower; her arms are wrapped around her legs, pulling them tight to her chest, and her face is buried in her limbs as her body shakes with heavy sobs.
My sweet girl.
Again, I pull the door to the shower open slowly. “Josephine.” Either she doesn’t hear me or she ignores me, so I squat down next to her. Desperate to touch her, I rub my hand down her naked back, letting the feel of her sobs seep into my bones. “Josephine, Love. Please look at me.”
She turns her head slightly, her pink and puffy cheek resting on her forearm, and as her eyes lock with mine, another violent sob bursts from her lips.
“Come here.” Tucking one arm under her knees and wrapping the other around her back, I lift her off the shower floor. Joe wraps her arms around my neck and buries her face into my chest as I turn off the shower and move her into the bedroom.
