Total pages in book: 82
Estimated words: 78811 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 394(@200wpm)___ 315(@250wpm)___ 263(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 78811 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 394(@200wpm)___ 315(@250wpm)___ 263(@300wpm)
Blinking, I refocus on Hanna’s photo. Pregnant at fourteen?
Does your brother still like to fuck little girls?
I shake my head and turn the page to read about the fundraiser, smiling when I see my mother’s photo. She’s been gone for a year, and I still miss her every single day.
My mind wanders to Emma at the thought of Mom. She was with her in the car. Was trapped inside it with the dead body of her mother for almost six hours until another car drove by and saw the wreckage. One of the photos the papers had printed showed Emma’s small pink suitcase beside my mother’s larger one lying along the side of the road, the trunk having popped open during the collision. They were almost to Atlanta. I’d been at school most of the day and had so much work to do I’d holed myself up in my bedroom after getting home. When dinnertime came and my dad and I were the only two at the table, he said they’d gone out overnight. A little trip for mommy and daughter. I remember being surprised and a little hurt that I hadn’t been invited. She hadn’t even mentioned it to me.
I flip the pages of the book finding clippings from events my family attended, some with me, through the years. When I get to the one of my mother’s funeral, I stop because a flood of emotion rushes through me. It was raining, the clouds heavy and dark over our heads. I’m wearing a dress similar to the one I’m wearing now and holding little Emma’s hand. She’s wearing black too. She didn’t understand why she had to wear black. I remember how she tried to take the dress off. She’d already stopped talking by then. Hadn’t said a word since they’d found her. We’d thought it was shock, but it’s not.
I can’t imagine what Emma felt during those hours alone in the car with our mother’s body beside her. How scared she must have been out there in the dark all alone. What is she thinking now? Is she wondering where I am? Did she see them take me? See the violence those men did at her father’s funeral? Does she think I’m hurt or worse?
A feeling of hopeless sadness overwhelms me. I close the book and stand to go to the window. It’s a clear night. Emma would count stars with me if she were here. I leave the light in the bathroom on and the door slightly ajar so it’s not full dark. I need to be alert for the next visit by one of the brothers, but I’m tired. Exhausted. So I climb onto the bed and lie down, staring up at the ceiling, wondering what happens next. Wondering if I’ll walk out of this house and get back to Emma. If I’ll walk out at all.
9
Amadeo
I wash my hands and take the offered towel to dry them.
“Thank you, Stefan.”
Stefan Sabbioni keeps his gaze out the window on the boat speeding away from the island. It carries the body of the man who went by The Reaper. His real name was Bob Miller. Generic. Unremarkable. A hired assassin.
“Humberto was a good man. And Angelo did not deserve to die so young,” he says, then turns back to me. “Come in. Have a drink with me.”
“Thank you.” I follow him into the beautiful house. Set in Palermo, the views are similar to my house, but he’s much closer to the sea than I am. I don’t know Stefan well, but he’s been an ally and supported Caballero’s decision to place me as the man in power of the family. “You and your wife live here alone?”
We go into the study, where he pours us each a whiskey, then sits in the armchair across from mine.
“Gabriela’s brother spends about half the year here. And of course, there’s Millie, who dotes on Gabriela these days. Our first child is due in a few months.”
“I didn’t realize your wife was pregnant.” Stefan is incredibly private about her. I’ve only been here a handful of times, but I’ve never met her. Never even seen her. Gabriela is the daughter of Gabriel Marchese. Stefan had taken her as payment for a debt Marchese owed, and he ended up falling in love with her. Strange world.
My mind wanders to Vittoria locked in her bedroom.
“Men in our world will always have enemies looking for a way in. A weakness,” Stefan says, interrupting my thoughts. “I realize I can’t keep the birth of my son a secret forever, but I’ll hold on to it as long as I can.”
“I understand. Your secret is safe with me, and I am in your debt.”
He shakes it off, then sips his drink. “How is Bastian?” Stefan has made no secret of his dislike for my brother. But I know he’s been betrayed by his, so perhaps that’s why.