Chapter 3

That night, I dreamed again about the gunfire from three years ago. When I woke up, it was only two in the morning. The old wound on my back was tight and burning. I lay in bed for over ten minutes, but I still couldn't sleep, so I gave up, got dressed, and went down to the basement range.

My physical therapist limited me to the lightest possible training. I put on ear protection, and the moment my right hand closed around the practice pistol, my wrist started to ache. My first shot went way wide.

The second was worse. I stared at the paper target and suddenly remembered that I used to be able to take a gun apart with my eyes closed. Three years was a long time.

Long enough for everyone to learn how to live without me. Long enough for my body to forget what it used to know.

"You're holding it too high."

Matteo's voice came from right behind me. I turned around. I had no idea when he'd come down. He was in his shirtsleeves, cuffs rolled up to his elbows.

"What are you doing here?"

"The guy at the door said you came down to the range in the middle of the night."

He came over and steadied my right arm from behind. "Relax. You're not competing with the old you."

His hand was warm against my wrist. For a second, I couldn't move. It was too much like the old days.

When I was 15 or 16, he used to stand behind me just like this and teach me to keep the muzzle down. I found him annoying, and he would deliberately talk right into my ear until every shot I fired went wide. Eventually I got so mad I smacked him with the butt of my gun, and he just laughed.

"Try again."

Matteo's voice brought me back. I steadied my breathing the way he told me. The third shot finally landed near the center.

He smiled.

"I knew you could do it."

That smile loosened something inside me. Maybe a lot of things really could still be fixed. I took off my ear protection.

"Matteo, I want to talk to you about Sofia."

His smile faded a little.

"Elena—"

"I'm not asking you to abandon her," I cut in. "She can have guards. She can stay in any of your safe houses. She can have money, and she can keep getting treatment. I just want her to move out of the estate and out of our private life."

He looked at me and didn't say anything for a long time.

I kept going. "Her father saved my life, and I'll never forget that. But paying back a debt is one thing. Letting her live in my parents' house and walk into your life whenever she wants is another."

"She just got hurt."

"Then she moves out once she's healed."

"She doesn't have a home to go back to."

"We have plenty of houses."

For every reason he gave, I offered a compromise. But Matteo still said nothing. My heart sank a little more.

"You don't want her to leave, do you?"

He pressed his fingers between his brows.

"I just don't want to send away someone who stood by us for three years right after you woke up. It would look terrible."

"Look terrible to who?"

"Not everything has to be so black and white."

"But she's living in my home and taking my guards, and now even you think I'm being cruel for wanting her gone."

Matteo frowned.

"I didn't say that."

"That's what you meant."

The door to the range swung open. Sofia stood just outside, her expression icy. She had obviously been listening for a while.

"So you really can't stand having me here."

I looked at her.

"I was very clear just now. I'm not trying to cut off your protection."

"Sure." She gave a short laugh. "You just want me to know that everything here belongs to you. I used your room, I sat in your place at the table, I took your gun. I should probably breathe somewhere far away from you too."

Matteo's voice went low. "Sofia, that's enough."

But she kept her eyes on me.

"You've been awake for four months, and the whole world has revolved around you. Why do you still have to go after the little I have left?"

Suddenly the whole thing seemed absurd to me.

"That 'little' you're talking about is my parents, my fiancé, my home, and my security. When did those become things I'm taking from you?"

The color drained from her face. The next second, she turned and walked out. Matteo called her name, but she didn't stop.

Soon we heard a car start outside. Worry flashed across Matteo's face, and he went after her. I stayed where I was and watched him disappear through the door.

A few seconds later, the estate alarm went off, loud and shrill. My chest tightened. I grabbed my jacket and ran out. The front courtyard was already in chaos.

A black sedan sat sideways near the outer gate, every window shattered. The guards were returning fire from behind the stone pillars, and two of them were keeping Matteo down behind a car. I had just spotted him when I heard a gunshot. Out of nowhere, Sofia had come running back from her car.

She threw herself in front of him just as Matteo was starting to get up. The bullet hit her in the shoulder. Blood soaked through her light-colored coat in seconds.

"Sofia!"

Matteo caught her. She was shaking all over from the pain, but she kept a tight grip on his shirt.

"I'm okay..."

"Shut up." His voice didn't even sound like his. "A doctor! Get a doctor over here!"

I stood on the steps and didn't move any closer. Half an hour earlier, I'd been talking to him about boundaries. Now Sofia had taken a bullet for him.