Chapter 136

• The car ride felt endless, even though it couldn’t have been more than an hour. I sat in the back with my arms wrapped around myself, trying to hold down the tremor in my gut. Rome at night was beautiful in a way that felt cruel—those ancient ruins lit up like ghost stories, all that history staring down at us while we plotted murder in the dark.
• Adam sat beside me, silent, eyes on the window. He hadn’t said more than three words since Raphael confirmed the meeting place. He wouldn’t even look at me. I tried to talk to him when we got in the car. He cut me off with a single glance.
• I hated him for that. But it also broke me, because I knew what he was really doing. He was getting ready to kill. He was getting ready to watch me die if it went wrong.