Luca exhaled slowly, the faintest shake of his head following. "You should go back home."
Veronica blinked, her hand pausing where it rested near his hair. "What?"
Luca shut his eyes for a second, already regretting how it sounded.
"You don't want me here?" she asked.
His eyes opened immediately. "No. No, I do."
"This is not the welcome I expected," she said. "But you are on painkillers, so I'll allow it." She ran her fingers gently through his hair, smoothing it back from his forehead. Luca closed his eyes briefly at the touch.
"I was so scared."
A tear slipped from the corner of his eye, sliding down into his hairline. The drugs had stripped him of dignity, and Veronica had stripped him of the need to pretend.
"I thought he got you," he whispered.
"No," she said gently. "Marco did his best."
Luca let out a breath that was almost a laugh and almost another sob. "I owe that idiot everything. I'll rip out my own heart and hand it to him."
