“I almost flunked math on purpose just to qualify for his help. You wait, he looks just like he’s in a boy band.”

I thought Quinn was exaggerating but when I met Bobby in the library, I almost laughed. He had soulful brown eyes, big shoulders, and slightly stick-out ears. He was handsome in the friendliest possible way and I felt silly for liking that.

Bobby had worksheets arranged on the desk beside him, but before I could say ‘hello’ Kurt moved the sheets to the other side of the table. “Miss Whitehall will sit here.”

I was so mortified, but Bobby smiled like it was totally normal to have pushy bodyguards. “No problem, January. Take a seat and tell me where you’re having the most trouble with math.”

We met three times a week after that, sitting opposite each other, going over my homework and practice exams.

“Don’t call yourself stupid,” he would say when I got frustrated. “You’re not stupid, you’re learning.”

“Learning how stupid I am,” I’d say, and he’d laugh.

He wore a rotation of dark blue sweaters and shirts. They always clung to his muscular chest, and he pushed up the sleeves so I could see his strong forearms. I used to fantasize about touching them. I knew if mom found out I had a crush on Bobby, she’d stop our tutoring sessions, so I never talked about him. The only time I ever said his name was during my confessions to Domenico.

Doc must have loved hearing my pathetic little fantasies and telling Bobby everything I said.

I press the pillow harder into my face trying to smother away the shame. He must see me as such a child. A crushed-out schoolgirl telling her priest about her math tutor. So embarrassing.

Why do you care? a sharp voice in my head demands. He killed Kurt.

But it’s hard to hold that knowledge in my brain. It doesn’t feel real. Not real the way Bobby coming down the stairs was real. He was wearing a shirt I’d seen a million times at Trinity Grammar and all I could think was ‘Oh my God, Bobby will save me!’

But he looked different. At school he was always a little awkward, here he was agile and confident. And when he looked at me, his expression was hard.

Somewhere inside the basement, I hear water dripping. Plink. Plink. Plink. It’s lucky I’m not the kind of person who gets stressed out by background noise. Mom would go crazy down here. Is she with the police? Or are she and Mr. Parker trying to handle this privately? I hope not. The men upstairs would tear anyone they’d send after me apart. Especially…

Adriano Rossi.

Ridiculously tall and even more tattooed than Doc. His light brown hair is so thick, it looks almost greasy. Long on top and shaved around the sides. He has a short scrubby beard and a proud nose all twisted from being broken. A gold tooth flashes when he talks. And those eyes, those Holographic green eyes. I should have recognized him at the cathedral. He was always waiting in reception at my ballet studio, staring so intently that for once I was glad Kurt and Theodore were with me. And when I started my lessons, he’d watch me dance through the windows of our classroom.