Chapter 704
Gwen's POV
The drive back to Florentia felt fast. Bella was in the backseat, clutching a pillow like something soft could convince the world to be less hard.
Nick drove with both hands tight on the wheel, his entire body still locked in alert mode. I sat in the passenger seat with my phone in my hand and my mind split in two places: here, under the seatbelt... and back there, in the sentence I had murmured to the police officer.
Strange men. I kept repeating it in my head, trying to figure out which drawer it belonged in. What kind of strange? What kind of men?
What kind of visits? I glanced in the rearview mirror. Bella was asleep, mouth slightly open, exhausted from being brave all day. Her hair stuck to her forehead, and there was a faint smudge of dried gelato on the corner of her shirt. Nick caught my look.
"She asleep?" he asked, without taking his eyes off the road.
asleep," I
the first real breath he'd taken in hours. When we pulled into the garage of the building, the elevator doors opened before we
a woman who always seemed to be the steadiest person in the room. Her face was pale, and her eyes... her eyes were wet in a
her granddaughter without waking her with her own urgency.
Martina pulled
love..." she kept saying. I stood there for a second, unsure where to put my hands. I had always believed I
is no manual for "child returns from hell in one
looked at
made her favorite dinner," she said, as if that could restore order
that betrays a man trying not to cry. "Thank you, Mom," he said. We went upstairs, and Martina guided Bella to the table with gentle authority. "You eat a little first. Then you
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