Page 124 of When We Fall: Part Two
I watched them leave, knowing damn well Kurt Evans—Santino De Santis—meant business.
“We no longer need you to identify the body, Mr. De Luca. Constantino’s father has already done that. We can allow you to, if you still want, but we don’t recommend it. The fire wasn’t kind.”
I smoothed my tie down with a shaky hand.
“I need to see him.”
The medical examiner studied me for a moment before nodding. I followed him into the cold room and saw a body in a bag on a metal table.
I steadied my breathing as we stopped at it.
“The body is badly burned due to the fire. All the bodies we have in here are like this. It’s a shame,” the man muttered. “Damn shame. Sick world we live in.”
He unzipped the bag.
I forced myself to stare down at my best friend. Cold. Dead. Burned. I studied everything about him.
He was only recognizable by his size, patches of black hair that hadn’t completely burned away. His face was gone. His body was so charred that there was no way I could recognize him.
“Where are his rings?” I asked, noting the ring on his finger that Rosalie had given him, and his Blossom ring wasn’t there.
“It is likely Mr. Evans has them. We remove jewelry and give it to the next of kin. He would have retrieved them from the front. Or the items were removed from him during his captivity.”
I said nothing and gave the examiner a nod, confirming it was him. I didn’t want to argue. It all seemed legit. I’d held him before he was burned. I knew he was already dead since I’d checked him myself. This was just the aftermath of the fire.
He immediately zipped him back into the bag.
“You won’t need to sign anything. Mr. Evans already did.”
I nodded again, needing to get the fuck out of there. I couldn’t stand being in that room.
“Thank you,” I said softly, walking to the door.
I didn’t stop until I was outside, Elijah at my side. The moment I was out, I heaved my guts into the grass as I fell to my knees.
“Easy, boss,” Elijah murmured, rubbing my back.
I threw up again, my entire body heaving.
Fuck. God. Seeing Fox like that…
I vomited again.
After I’d completely emptied my guts, a bottle of water was thrust into my hand. I rinsed my mouth and spat the water out before taking a big drink and swallowing.
I stayed on my knees for a moment before Elijah helped me to stand.
“You need anything?” he asked, studying me.
I exhaled and ran my fingers through my hair. “Any updates from Cole?”
“Yes. Ethan woke for a few minutes and was calling for Fox.” He winced. “He’s out again. Cole said an Ass Hat called and that he told him to fuck off and die. He wants you to call him back.”
I pulled my phone out and walked back to the Escalade. Christian was behind the wheel. I got into the back while Elijah slid into the front seat. We pulled out of the parking lot.
“Cole?” I said into the phone. “What’s going on?”
“I told Ass Hat he’s done. He wanted to see Rosalie.” He launched into telling me everything. “I mean it, Enzo. That fuck comes anywhere near her, I’ll kill him.”
