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The house had gone quiet. Only a few lamps remained on in the hallway, casting pools of amber across the floor.

At the end of the corridor, Demitri stopped outside my room.

“Mine is there.”

He pointed to the door beside mine.

Something caught in my breath. Too close. We were too close. Only a wall separated the beds. A few steps separated the doors. If he moved around in the night, I might hear him. If I woke from a nightmare, he might hear me.

“I’d feel better with you nearby,” he explained. “If you need anything during the night, knock.” His eyes moved over my face with a quietness that left me feeling exposed.

“Good night, Adriana.”

He reached for my door and opened it. His hand remained on the handle while I stepped inside. I turned before he could close it.

“Demitri?”

He waited.

“Which name do you prefer?”

His brow furrowed.

“Demitri or DeMarco?”

For a moment, he said nothing.

“Most of my family call me DeMarco.”

“That was not what I asked.”

His eyes held mine. The silence stretched.

“Demi,” he said at last, before closing the door gently.

I stood there listening. His footsteps crossed the short distance to the room beside mine. A door opened, then shut. Only a wall separated us. I pressed my palm against it. The plaster was cool beneath my hand.

For the first time since my father died, I was not afraid of the dark settling around me. Demitri was on the other side. And that was the safest I’d felt in a long time.

23

DEMITRI

Breakfast was waiting when Adriana and I entered the dining room.

So was my family.

Raze sat at one end of the long table with Izzy beside him. Tone and Archie occupied the opposite side, followed by Gianni and Mikayla, Marcello and Samira, then Atlas and his wife Neve. Empty chairs remained between them, though no one had chosen the one at the head.

My father’s chair.

The older children had already been sent to school. The younger ones had been dropped at daycare before most of the adults finished their first coffee. It left the table unnaturally quiet for a family that had multiplied in my absence.

Every face turned toward me.

Adriana stopped at my side. I felt the tension of uncertainty move through her and placed my hand against the small of her back.

“Sit,” Tone demanded. “You’re making everyone nervous.”