LUCA

There was a click, but I didn't flinch. I knew the gun was out of bullets. She'd emptied them all into Mario.

Veda stared down at me with horror in her wide, gray eyes. Then I watched as they filled with new tears. Her face crumpled, and the gun clattered to the floor as she fell into my open arms.

I caught her and pulled her onto my lap as she wrapped her arms around my neck. I held her tight as great heaving sobs wracked her body and she kept repeating my name over and over in terrified, keening cries. I adjusted her legs until they straddled mine...