The sting of disinfectant hit me as I pushed open the door to the hospital room, and I saw Rossi in the bed at once.His face was paper-white, his lips bloodless, his breathing so faint his chest barely moved.The moment he saw me, his dull, dying eyes flared with a weak light.He strained to lift his hand, and it fell back limp. Hoarse, broken sounds scraped out of his throat as he rushed to explain."I... Bianca deceived me."She told me that giving you to Luca was only a test of your loyalty. She said the arrangement was temporary. That once the alliance between the two families was stable, I could swap someone in for you and bring you home safe."Of all of them, he always seemed the most easygoing, the most respectable. I had no idea what he..."I stood quietly at the bedside, listening to his desperate excuse as he lay dying, and felt nothing at all.I knew perfectly well he must have seen the recent reports about Luca.I bent down and leaned close to Rossi's ear."You don't need
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