◇ KEL ◇ Body.Niccolo's body.Too late.The damned Russians. They slashed his head off. Those merciless animals had chained him, cut his tongue in half, then dumped his remains somewhere in the outskirts. Like maimed roadkill.Niccolo's dead. The cops couldn't find him in time. They failed. I failed. "I'm sorry, Nicco." My chest felt hollow. Heavy. The sting of a sudden loss... "He's gone," I whispered to myself while I gripped my phone."Mykaela?" Enzo's deep voice poured over the line, jolting me out of the daze his news just put me in. "Still there?"The initial shock stunned me like a bolt of lightning. When I asked for more information, only then did Enzo share the gory details. His contacts had found Niccolo's body in the morgue.It had to have a lick of truth to it...Enzo delivered the news with an empathetic certainty that just shook me. I leaned against the edge of the sink and glanced at Miles.He stood right next to me, no longer sweaty. His arm touched the side of

◇ KEL ◇Mount Carmel Hillside Cemetery - New York  Multiple organ failure.Five and a half years of hospitalizations, regular trips to the doctors,  dozens and dozens of medications.It was tragic, of course, but essentially easy to comprehend. Jim Nielsen, 64, had passed away in peace. After three nights in the hospital ICU again,  Dr. Chase delivered the sad news before I could make it to my father's deathbed.Our semestral break was just in time, though, so I went back home to help my family with the interment. It had been a couple days of exhausting sleepless nights, busy evenings attending to guests and relatives who paid their respects, explaining my Daddy Jim's illness and final weeks to those who needed clarifications.Now we all gathered around and spent the entire afternoon with relatives and friends, praying over my Daddy Jim's remains.Thick cloud

◆ MILES ◆Brichese, Italy "Where you at?" "Somewhere you never been. What's up?" "

◇ KEL ◇

◇ KEL ◇"Cosa vuoi mangiare?""Huh?" As I tried to catch my breath after another long lap, I held onto the edge of the pool while Enzo stood idly next to me.His slight frown preceded a quick sigh, and he shook his head at the numbers on his phone screen. It was his stopwatch. He was timing my laps; he knew I hadn't had time to work on my cardio for months now because of med school and everything else. "You put in another twelve seconds.""Sorry." I took deep, noisy breaths as I loosened my ponytail. My chest felt like it would explode any second now. I tilted my head and tried to lessen my loud intakes of breath.Sunset now dappled the clear sky with pale hues of orange, and if I wasn't burning calories for the past half hour, by now I'd be shivering and covered up with a robe and a thick towel. The pool was almost empty. We could do laps without bothering the kids playing on the shallow end, right on the arc-shaped stairs."Want pasta? Some steak? Salad?" Enzo glanced at me befo