جميع فصول : الفصل -الفصل 130

SALVATOREThe airport buzzed with the usual early morning chaos of crackling announcements echoing off the high ceilings, rolling suitcases thudding against the floor, and a dozen different languages overlapping in sharp, tired voices. I shifted my weight from one foot to the other, watching our bags inch forward on the conveyor belt. My fingers grazed Miguel’s elbow, more out of instinct than anything.“Are you okay, baby?” I asked quietly, just above the noise, leaning in so only he could hear me.Miguel glanced up from his phone. His eyes were lined with fatigue. He had his backpack slung over one shoulder, and his hoodie hung loosely around his frame. “I’m fine, Sal. Just ready to get this over with.”It wasn’t the first time I’d asked. I’d been checking on him since we left the house, every few minutes, as if asking could change the fact that we were uprooting everything and about to fly to a place strange to him. He’d smiled the first time, but now his patience was starting to

MIGUEL“Salvatore!” My voice cracked through the dark as I shook him hard. His eyes snapped open, wild for a second before recognition settled in them. I was already halfway out of bed, my heart pounding against my ribs like it might crack them open.“There are people in the house,” I hissed. “I saw them from the window. They are downstairs—”Salvatore swung his legs over the side of the bed in one fluid motion, grabbing the pistol from the drawer before I could even finish. Moonlight streamed in from the tall window, casting silver across his bare chest as he crossed the room. He parted the heavy curtains with one hand.I held my breath. My fingers fisted the sheets as I waited for something to explode, for shouting, gunshots, and bodies to line the stone walkway downstairs. But, surprisingly, he chuckled. The chuckle cut through the tension like a slap.“Relax,” he said, turning toward me and lowering the gun with a smirk. “It’s just family guards and cousins. They do rounds every

SALVATORE. Ten Years Ago… PalermoI knew it the second I heard the front door creak open.It was clear in the way the door closed too gently, like someone trying not to be heard, also in the way the hallway suddenly fell silent, as if the very walls were holding their breath.It was Matteo.I stood up from the couch, dropped the cigarette I hadn’t even lit, and crossed the living room in three strides.“Matteo?”No answer.I found him in the foyer, hunched over with one hand pressed against his ribs, the other smeared with blood. His shirt was torn, his lip split wide open. He looked up when he heard me and that was when I saw the bruises on his face.I froze for half a second, then grabbed his arm. “Who did this?”He tried to wave me off with that crooked little smile of his. “It’s nothing, Sal.”My jaw clenched. He always said that it was nothing. But here he was with a black eye, a broken finger, and a cracked rib. “It’s just kids messing around,” he would shrug. But I wasn’t stu

MIGUELMy heart was thudding a little too fast, and I clutched the notebook in my lap like it could hold me. Inside were all the scribbled notes I’d made about the University of Palermo, which was my first real choice since we landed. It wasn’t just any school. Founded centuries ago, it stretched across the city like a living, breathing thing, from all the images I’d seen of it. Some buildings looked like they’d been pulled out of a history book, while others gleamed with glass and steel. Over forty thousand students called it home, and that kind of crowd sounded like freedom. At least I would easily keep myself hidden.“Are you sure about this place, baby?” Salvatore asked, glancing over with one hand on the wheel and the other resting warmly on my thigh.“Yeah,” I said, trying to sound confident. “They have everything and it’s big enough that I don’t have to be anyone but me.”He smiled at that and gave my leg a quick squeeze. “Then let’s make it happen.”We pulled through a stone

SALVATOREThe marble steps were cool under my footwear as I crept down. I didn’t want to wake anyone. I couldn’t risk it. The mansion was silent, the kind of quiet that wrapped around you like a shroud. Morning hadn’t even broken yet.It was best to move on time before anyone got up and began to question me.My heart thudded heavily in my chest as I moved through the dim foyer. I kept seeing the note I had left close to Miguel’s pillow playing over and over in my mind. It was just a short “I will be back soon; love you.” and now that I was already halfway to redemption, I realised that it felt too simple for what I was doing.I should have added some more information, maybe even given him a location, but then, he didn’t know anywhere here. This wasn’t just some early morning errand. I wasn’t just grabbing coffee like I told myself. I was going to meet Raphael. And if he really had what he promised, then everything was about to change. The past wasn’t buried. It was still alive, stil