Page 237 of Ricardo

“Are you all right?”

No.

Nothing is right.

But I nod because there are no words that will help him.

Victoria guides me to a chair before my legs give out. Ricardo sits immediately, close enough that his thigh touches mine. He takes one of my hands. His thumb moves over my knuckles, slow and careful.

The dried blood is gone.

I can still feel it.

I think I'll always be able to feel it.

Mario is standing near the wall with Lorenzo and Diego. Matteo and Tomasso are several feet away with Edoardo and Alessio. Their voices are low, but the waiting room is quiet enough that I catch pieces.

“Police have the apartment sealed,” Diego is saying.

“Do we have names?” Mario asks.

“Not yet.”

“I need them as soon as possible.”

“Already working on it,” Lorenzo says.

The words moving around me are practical. They're talking about the two men in my apartment. The men that Dante killed.

My apartment.

My floor.

My entrance table.

My hands press together in my lap.

Ricardo’s thumb stills. “Julia.”

I lift my head just slightly to acknowledge I heard him.

“I'll tell them to stop,” he says.

“You don’t have to,” I say. “I'm okay. I promise.”

Across the waiting room, Diego is talking to Mario: “Why were they there? Because she works for you? Or because she's seeing Ricardo?”

The question comes clearly across the room.

Ricardo’s hand closes more firmly around mine.

Mario’s expression gives nothing away. “That is what we need to know.”

“It would have to be a quick job if this was about Ricardo,” Lorenzo says. “They just went public tonight.”

My stomach turns.

Ricardo’s voice is low beside me. “Breathe.”