Page 62 of Psychotic Faith
"You want to send her in there alone?" My voice is rising, control slipping. "With Neumann? After what he did to her mother? After he's already threatened her?"
The room goes silent.
"And you think he'll just… what? Politely wait for us to arrive?" I'm shaking now, hands braced on the table, every muscle locked. "You think he won't hurt her the second he has her alone?"
I shove away from the table, pacing like a caged animal. Five days without sleep making everything sharper, more desperate.
"He killed her mother with his bare hands. Strangled her while a twelve-year-old Faith watched. And you want to give him another chance?"
Marco stands slowly. "Luca. Sit down."
"No." I round on him. "You don't get to decide this. None of you do."
Dante's on his feet now too, positioning himself between me and the others. Not threatening, just… ready. His expression says he'll stop me if I lose control completely.
Sofia holds her ground, chin up despite the danger crackling in the air. "Your protection is suffocating her. She can't even breathe without you monitoring it."
The words hit like a physical blow. I grab the back of my overturned chair, knuckles white, fighting the urge to throw it through the window.
"Better suffocated by my protection than dead by his hands," I manage, voice breaking.
"You don't understand," I continue, each word scraping out. "He's obsessed with her. The way he looked at her, talked about her mother… He won't just kill her. He'll make it last. Make it hurt. And I'll be too far away to stop it."
Faith's voice cuts through, cold as February: "So what, Luca? You'd rather he stays alive forever?"
Everyone turns. She's still studying those schematics like we're discussing dinner plans, not her potential murder.
"I'd rather you stay alive," I say, staring at her. "Is that so fucking unreasonable?"
She finally looks at me, empty eyes in a face going hollow from her own obsession. "I need him dead. Everything else is secondary."
"Including you?" I move toward her. Dante shifts to intercept but Marco raises a hand, stopping him. "You'd walk into his trap? Let him put his hands on you? Just to get close enough?"
"If that's what it takes." Her voice is flat, emotionless. Not my Faith at all.
"You're insane," I breathe.
She almost smiles. "You would know."
Faith stands, approaches me for the first time since the compound massacre. My body locks, every nerve ending screaming at her proximity.
"Luca." My name in her mouth after five days of silence makes my knees weak. "I need him dead. You understand need, don't you?"
She's close enough to touch but doesn't. I can see the slight tremor in her fingers, the way her breath catches. Her body remembers us even if her mind's chosen this path.
"You're killing yourself for me. I'm destroying myself for revenge. We're both obsessed past salvation."
"If you do this," my voice drops to something dangerous, desperate, "I'll kill everyone in this room to stop you. Family or not. I'll burn this whole mansion down if it means keeping you away from him."
Nobody laughs. My family knows I mean it. Every word.
Dante signs something sharp. Ana translates quietly: "He says you need to calm down before you do something you'll regret."
"Regret?" I let out a broken laugh. "The only thing I'll regret is not locking her somewhere safe when I had the chance."
Sofia speaks carefully, maintaining distance. "Your protection is suffocating her worse than any threat from Neumann."
"Good." The word comes out savage. "Let it suffocate her. Better than the alternative."
