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He nodded He came toward me and slid the second strap into place, then he led me toward the bed and made me sit down We hadn’t been able to talk alone since our first conversation and then I’d been high on morphine
“I’ain because he looked like he needed to hear it He didn’t say anything for a long tiainst o”
I shivered “But you didn’t”
He peered up at me “Why did you do this? Why did you take a bullet for me?”
“Do you really not knohy?” I whispered
He beca
“I love you, Luca” I knew saying out loud was a risk, but I’d thought I’d die a couple days ago, so this was nothing
Luca brought his face up to mine and cupped my cheeks “You love reen, or that the sun revolved around the earth, or that fire was cold to the touch As if what I’d said didn’t make sense, as if it didn’t fit into his view of the world “You shouldn’t love me, Aria I’m not someone who should be loved People fear me, they hate me, they respect me, they adood at killing Better probably than at anything else, and I don’t regret it Fuck, sometimes I even enjoy it That’s a man you want to love?”
“It’s not a matter of want, Luca It’s not like I could choose to stop loving you”
He nodded, as if that explained a lot “And you hate that you loveit before”
“No Not anyood man I’ve always known it, and I don’t care I know I should I know I should lie awake at night hatingthe boss of one of the anizations in the States But I don’t What does thatdown at o, at the finger that had pulled the trigger without hesitation, without a twitch or tremor “And I killed a ain” I glanced up at Luca “What does that make me, Luca? I’m a killer like you”
“You did what you had to He deserved to die”
“There’s not one of us who doesn’t deserve death We probably deserve it more than most”
“You are good, Aria You are innocent I forced you into this”
“You didn’t Luca I was born into this world I chose to stay in this world” The words ofborn into our worldborn with blood on your hands With every breath we take sin is engraved deeper into our skin”
“You don’t have a choice There’s no way to escape our world You didn’t have a choice inme either If you’d let that bullet kill e”