Page 154 of The Carnage We Keep

What she might not know is that I don’t really think I mind those buttons being pushed by her so much anymore.

“No, seriously, go back…” Her lips curl into an eager smile. “You killed Joey Dicheara with an AC window unit?”

I grimace. “You're being generous. Gravity did most of the work.”

“Dame!” She beams at me, her face lighting up like a Christmas tree. “You dropped an air conditioner on a pedophile!”

I frown at her. “Why are you looking at me like that?”

She presses one hand dramatically to her chest and sniffs. “I’m just so proud.”

I chuckle quietly. “Jesus⁠—”

“I’m serious! Look at you! Improvising, making snap decisions, killing people with random household appliances.” Her eyes shine. “You’re becoming me.”

“That is quite possibly the most insulting thing anyone has ever told me.”

She grins.

“Thanks.”

I finish telling her the rest of it, how I woke up half-submerged in mud and sewage runoff on the bank of the legitimately toxic Gowanus Canal, a stranger crouched over me asking if I could hear him.

Bella’s face twists. “Ew.”

I’ve watched this girl dissolve a man in acid, slash someone’s throat, leave a severed head on my pillow and dump a bag of amputated penises on a restaurant table without batting an eye.

And it’s…checks notes…dirty water that she thinks is icky.

Okay then.

I lift my arm with the IV. “I’ve got enough antibiotics in me to sterilize a small country, though. All good.”

She grimaces, and the room grows quieter.

“So.” I clear my throat. “I guess this means the cat’s out of the bag?”

“Yeah. Pretty sure the entire Knightsblood campus knew you were my husband before I was even out of Hawthorne Hollow.”

I frown. “That seems fast.”

“Pfft. Bored rich kids with phones.” She pulls hers from her pocket and shows me the screen. “Mine's been blowing up nonstop since I left.” She starts ticking them off on her fingers. “Friends…half my cousins…extended family members who apparently think using a thousand question marks will make me respond faster…” She exhales heavily. “Lochlan and Achilles are fucking furious.”

I mean, fair. If I found out some mafia heir motherfucker I didn’t know that well had secretly married my little sister Sofia and no one, not even my own parents, had told me?

Yeah, I think “furious” is a pretty accurate description of how that’d go down.

She shakes her head, but there’s a grin pulling at her mouth.

“So, yeah.” She drops her phone back into her lap. “Secret marriage not so secret anymore.”

I should probably be bothered by that.

That was the entire fucking point, right? Keep it quiet.

But even though I know I should be pissed at this blowing up, I’m…not.

Not even a little.