Page 288 of Marcello

And every turn led me to fresh horrors.

Then I heard screaming.

I wanted to run away, but an invisible force compelled me to walk towards the noise.

I came to a room where Lucrezia was watching something.

She turned to look at me. Her sunglasses were off, and black liquid oozed down her cheek from her empty eye socket.

“You should see this,” she whispered in a ghostly voice.

In the next room over, I saw Cesare from the back, kicking the pregnant woman.

I couldn’t see either of their faces, but I knew it was them from their clothes. Cesare wore his leather jacket, and I recognized his close-cropped haircut from behind.

I walked forward, not in control of my own actions –

Until I was staring down at the pregnant woman.

It was Giulietta.

She peered up at me in agony, her face smeared with blood, and screamed, “WHY?! Why, Romeo, WHY?!”

I looked over at Cesare, about to reach out and stop him –

When he turned to me and grinned.

But it wasn’t Cesare’s face that looked back at me.

It was mine.

I jolted awake.

The sky was still pitch black. We were far outside the city and driving down a road with no lights.

“Simmer down,” Niccolo said. “We’re almost there.”

I was about to ask Where? when I saw a sign in the SUV’s headlights:

Parco Virgiliano.

Virgil’s Park.

I’d heard of it before – a spot outside Naples. The park wasn’t known for its beauty, but rather for overlooking a small volcanic island called Nisida that housed a prison for juvenile delinquents.

I gave a single, bitter laugh.

“What’s so funny?” Niccolo asked.

“It’s a fitting meeting place.”

“And why’s that?”

“Virgil – Dante’s guide through Hell.”

“Ah,” Niccolo said sardonically. “A fellow student of the classics.”

“Considering it was your uncle who told me to find my own Virgil in Naples,” I sneered, “I figured it’s a little joke at my expense.”