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Alex

I made a deal with the Devil And not with the handsole fro within the halls, the monster that lived inside all of us I’d never believed in a higher power, but I would have gladly signed a contract in blood

Sold my soul to the Devil

Anything to keep Marcello alive

We’d beco another person sliced into ed for the pain to stop I couldn’t handle another death, another loss Not after what I’d been through in the last year

I leaned against the wall in the ballroos shook so badly, Luca tried to holdin his power to save me from his enemies The Devil protected me from the demons at our doorstep But when I was this upset, I craved silence and isolation Marcello gave me those moments, let me steal as many as I needed to find comfort

Marcello has to live

After the medical response team lifted Marcello onto a stretcher, we followed thehts were already in the ballrooroup of nurses and doctors asse room Within minutes, they transformed the elaborate roo fro a clean environiven the situation

Theymonitors and medical equipment A nurse ran lines to his arrandfather stood beside the table, his hand outstretched as a man handed him a scalpel, and then he went to work The monitors buzzed so loudly my head pounded My mind couldn’t process the events of the last hour

A gunshot to the liver gave him about a thirty percent chance of survival, but Marcello was in good hands with Pops Before his retireeons in the country He’d even perfected a surgical method that won him awards and earned him lots of praise But even with his skills, the ed him to let Marcello live

I can’t lose him too

Leaning forward, I cupped my knees with my hands and blew out a deep breath In and out, I tried to steady ht through my chest