“Where is she?” Zio demanded as he came toward me. “Why didn’t you bring her back?”

I met his blue gaze steadily. “She refused to come with me.”

“What?” he shouted, running his fingers through his hair. “Why would she stay with that bastard?”

“He’s the father of her babies.”

“Fuck,” Pop and Dante muttered under their breath as Zio’s eyes nearly bulged out of his head.

“No,” he denied, his tone thick with rage…and loss. “She wouldn’t let that motherfucker touch her. She wouldn’t turn her back on her family like that.” He grabbed my arms, his eyes almost pleading with me. “She would never betray us, especially not you.” When I remained silent, he released me. Eyes closed, he hung his head in defeat. “No,” he denied in an emotionally choked voice. “I don’t believe it.”

“What is that god-awful smell?” Mom muttered, her gaze lowering to the box I still held in my hands. “What is this?”

I placed it on the ground between us. “Bain said it was a gift for me. He called it an olive branch.” I straightened without opening the lid, disgusted without even having seen the contents. “From the smell of it, I figure it is a dead raccoon and him giving me one more fuck-you.”

Mom crouched down beside it and cautiously lifted one side of the lid. The way her eyes narrowed had us all taking a step back in case whatever was inside wasn’t dead. Straightening, she lifted the lid completely, and we all got a good look at the contents.

“Holy fuck,” I muttered as I gazed down at the box…

And saw Sheena O’Brion’s severed head, her eyes staring sightlessly back at me, a bullet hole right between her eyes.

42

Nova

I wasn’t sure if I felt so bad because my entire body was one excruciating bruise, or if it was because of the ache in my heart.

It had been over a week since I’d tried to call Ryan and my mom. Not only had Ryan not called me back, but he’d also blocked the landline number I’d tried to call him from. Now, every time I tried to call him, all I got was that stupid message saying my call was unable to go through.

Once I’d gotten that message several times, I’d started using anyone’s cell I could get my hands on. Only to get the same result with each number. Ryan had blocked every number I called from.

Dad’s reaction had hurt, but I understood it. I had no idea what was going on back home, but if he and Mom thought I was dead, then they had a good reason for thinking it. But Ryan’s reaction was too much to handle. I didn’t care what he’d been told, he should know better than to think I was dead.

Couldn’t he feel me? My heart was still beating, damn it. If he loved me the way I loved him, if we were the soul mates I’d always assumed we were, then he should be able to feel me and know I was alive.