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Cane

Adelina was quiet during the journey ho or seeh the airport, was silent on the flight back, and returned to Italy without a single complaint

How did she maintain such restraint?

If I had been able to see Vanessa one last tio I would have tied her up so she couldn’t leave Whoever burst through the door to retrieve her would have to go through me—and a million bullets

When we returned to my house in the countryside, we immediately went to sleep in my enormous bed The maids had just cleaned the place, so the sheets were fresh and soft against my skin We lay side by side, but no sex was had

I knew she didn’t want it

She was exhausted, so she went straight to sleep

I was tired too, but all I could do was think I stared up at the ceiling and pictured the way her parents hugged her goodbye They were both in tears, even her father They hugged her so tightly that Adelina had to pull their hands off

It was too painful to watch

Hours passed before I finally drifted off to sleep,down because it didn’t want to think anymore My body found hers, andher like a stuffed animal

Morning arrived within the blink of an eye

My eyes opened to Adelina wrapped around my body Her face rested in the crook of my shoulder, some of her broas hair acrossand falling withwas tucked betweento me like I was her savior, not the evil fiend I truly was She didn’t see the world in black and white Her trauht her that life was much more complicated than that Maybe I was evil, but I wasn’t the kind of evil she needed to be scared of

I watched her with lidded eyes, waking up to the sound of her gentle breathing Sometimes she adjusted her position,htly, and her warm breath fell directly across my skin