I expect soon I will be caught or killed. I know what I have to do. I am going to take the threat away from Sophie. Today, on Christmas Day, I will go to Donata Marino’s house and remove her from power. I will remove my brother too, and face whatever punishment comes with it.

If I am unsuccessful, the Marino family will rebuild itself. In this case, I need you to send Sophie away. There is someone at the address below who will hide her until she is free to be herself again.

Sophie trusts you more than anyone. She will listen to you. Please, keep her safe. Do what I couldn’t do. Take her out of this life, before it ‘s too late. Give her this address, and when it ‘s done, burn this letter and erase all traces of it from your memory.

If she will hear it, tell her I ‘m sorry. Tell her I love her.

You are the best thing that ‘s ever happened to her, Millie. Please take care of my girl for me.

Be well,

Michael

‘Did he do it?’ she asked, after I had read through the letter twice, the paper shaking in my hands. ‘Did he kill Jack?’

‘Yes,’ I said, trying not to fixate on the image in my head, still staring at his words. ‘I saw it.’

‘Then you can trust him.’ She tapped the piece of paper – the address of M Flores scrawled messily at the bottom. ‘You can trust this.’

I took it from her, a frown twisting on my lips. ‘And what? I’m just supposed to go?’

Millie nodded. ‘Yes, that’s exactly what you’re supposed to do.’

‘With what money?’

‘Luca will sort it out.’

Bitterness swelled inside me. ‘Wow, he must really want to get rid of me.’

‘You know why he’s doing it,’ Millie said. ‘Come on, Soph.’

I wiped a tear away before it could trace another line on my cheek. ‘I have to go,’ I whispered to myself. ‘I have to go.’

‘Yes,’ said Millie softly. ‘But I’ll go with you. I’ll take you as far as you want.’

‘No,’ I said firmly. ‘You can’t come with me. Not while there’s so much heat on me.’

She grabbed my hand. ‘I’ll take you to the airport. I’ll wait until you get on the plane. You’ll call me when you get off. I’ll be with you every step of the way. And then, in a month or so, when this has all died down, we’ll sort something else out. You just have to lie low for a while.’

‘By myself,’ I said. ‘With a complete stranger.’

‘Better there than here,’ Millie said. ‘There will be no survivors from this, Sophie. You know that. Luca knows that.’

I heaved a shaky breath, the paper still clutched in my fist. Was I really going to pin all my hopes on my father’s word? On someone I had never met before? Was I going to walk away from everyone I knew and loved?

Yes.

My mother’s voice inside my head.

Yes.

My father’s voice.

‘OK,’ I told Millie. ‘OK.’

She reeled backwards. ‘Thank God,’ she said, passing a hand across her forehead. ‘I’m so relieved, Soph.’

There were tears in her eyes now, too. She smiled – it was small and watery. She was pulling me out, and I could tell it was the only way. If I wanted to live – if I wanted to claw my way out of the darkness – I had to go with her. I had to crawl towards my light.

And Millie was my light.

‘I want to say goodbye to him,’ I said. ‘I need to.’

‘Of course you do,’ she said gently. ‘Of course you can say goodbye.’

I turned back towards the house. It felt bigger, colder, more remote. Inside, the assassins were swarming, ready to move again. I started walking towards it, towards the boy I loved. The boy who was locked up in the heart of this place. The boy who would go to his death with his family.

‘I’ll get your things,’ Millie said, following me up the driveway. We entered together. She went one way, and I went another, pushing my feet towards the Don’s office, towards Luca.

Towards goodbye.

CHAPTER FORTY-SIX

NO RETURN

Ishut the door to the office behind me, and kept my back pressed against it. Luca was already standing up, his arms crossed over his chest as he leant against the desk. He had dark rims under his eyes, and his shoulders were slumped. Only one of us had slept last night.

Anger flared inside me, quashing the jarring need to cry, to reach out to him and beg him to think of some other way for us to be happy. My defences shot up, and I felt myself shutting down.

‘Your plan’s come off,’ I told him. ‘Millie’s outside waiting for me.’

For a long moment, he just looked at me, his expression blank. Then he blinked, slow and heavy, and with a sigh, came his response. ‘Good.’

‘So you’re happy?’ I pressed. ‘You’re happy that I’m leaving? That you don’t have to deal with me again?’

I knew I was being irrational but it hurt so badly, like a pinprick right in the centre of my heart, that he was choosing to send me away.

‘Sophie …’ Even his voice was tired. ‘Don’t twist this.’

‘I’m not twisting it.’

He stood up, his hands dangling by his side. ‘You are,’ he said. ‘You know this is the way it has to be.’

‘We were supposed to do this together, Luca. For my mom, for Valentino.’