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‘Why not?’ Pietro narrowed his eyes ‘What a?’

Col’s glare was defiant, his expression rich with displeasure But after a burning h to signal a surrender of sorts

‘What I’m about to tell you stays in this room’

Perplexed, Pietro jerked his head in agreement

‘Swear it, Pietro Swear you will keep my confidence’

‘Of course’

Pietro had no concept of what he was agreeing to, at that point, so it was easy to go along with the Senator’s insistence

‘There are only two people other than myself who knohat I’m about to tell you Not even Emmeline knows’

A frisson of anticipation dru for the Senator to continue

‘There’s no easy way to say this I’’

Pietro froze He felt his body go into a kind of shocked stasis ‘What?’ he heard hi moment, and the as almost sucked out of him

‘Dying My oncologist thinks I’ve probably got a few months in me yet’

He leaned forward, and the deter down Pietro’s spine

‘They won’t be good h I want Emmeline as far away from me as possible I want her happy Safe Protected I want her blissfully unaware of what’s happening to me’

Pietro felt as though a slab of bricks had landed on his chest and was deter all the air out of him He’d lost his own beloved father to cancer twenty years earlier The idea of going through that again turned his blood to ice

‘That can’t be right’ He ran a palm over his eyes and stared at the Senator with renewed interest He looked so well Just as always ‘Have you had a second opinion?’

‘Don’t need one’ Col shrugged ‘I saw the X-rays Cancer everywhere’

Pietro swore in his own tongue It had been a long time since he’d felt so powerless ‘I’m sorry’