The darkness lasted only a few seconds, but it felt much longer.
I could hear my own breathing.
Then I felt Damiano’s arm tighten around my waist.
“Stay behind me,” he whispered.
“I can’t see anything.”
“I know.”
Somewhere across the room, a door slammed.
Damiano immediately pushed me behind him.
“Don’t move.”
A light came back on.
I blinked, trying to adjust to it.
Adrian was gone.
So were the two men who had been standing near him.
I looked around the room.
“Where did they go?”
Damiano didn’t answer.
He was staring at the floor.
There was blood near the stairs.
My stomach turned.
“Damiano…”
“It’s not mine.”
I looked at his shirt.
There was still blood on it.
“Then whose is it?”
He looked at me.
“I don’t know.”
That answer wasn’t reassuring.
He walked toward the
