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He texts back five minutes later, as I wait for Sofia to finish cleaning up her face.
Stefano: I got the phone call from the school. I'll sort it and Victoria out, don't worry. Just focus on making her love you.
I don't reply. I'm fairly sure she's already halfway there. I smile at how easy this is. First stop, dinner with Sofia. Then a little trip to see Candice, my father's new secretary, who I have been fucking for the last year, and have her suck me off tonight. I think I'll take her ass again, too.
I pull out my phone and send a quick text.
Me: Be ready for me at my place at 9.
She texts back right away.
Candice: I will be there in nothing but a coat.
Perfect!
I hear Sofia coming out of the bathroom and quickly put my phone away, holding my hand out to her. She takes it, beaming at me. Her face is still a little red from her crying, but she's put her long dark hair in a high ponytail, and changed into a white summer dress with daisies all over it, and some sandals.
Jesus!
How can this be my life?
four
Sofia – Age 17
I stand at the end of the pier in the Hamptons, looking out to the clear blue sea. I love it here; it's one of my favorite places.
I haven't been standing here long when I feel a presence behind me, and I know instantly that it's Damian without even turning. He's been my best friend since I was a scrawny 8-year-old girl. For the first five years of our friendship, we spent three nights a week and every Saturday together. I'd fall increasingly in love with him, but he never reciprocated the feelings. With him being four years older than me and only seeing me as a little sister, I knew it would never happen between us, given that he was way out of my league.
Four years later, our three nights a week have turned into five, but we don't spend Saturdays together anymore, much to my dismay. He's joined the family business, so it's no longer possible. Still, I spend Sunday evenings at his parents' house for dinner, so there's that.
I'm not stupid; I know my father and his as well. I know that Damien, Sergi, and Alexandr are not nice men; they're mafia and bratva, trained to hurt and kill. But I know they only dabble in guns, money laundering, and drugs, they don't do trafficking, dealing in human flesh like some mobs around New York.
The Irish were looking into it until their godfather got killed in a police raid, and Noah, his son, who also happens to be one of my best friends, took over and vetoed any trafficking. He's also engaged to my other best friend, Lilly, who has been my study partner since middle school and a pseudo-sister. It's how Noah met her, through me, and fell in love with her. He broke all the rules and decided she would be his queen, instead of marrying for an alliance.
Apparently, Noah's father wanted us to get married, because he was greedy, wanting both Mafia families. My father rejected the idea outright, because Noah was like a big brother to me, from the time I was twelve, when he saved me from being run over by one of my father's enemies. Because he saved me, my father decided we could be friends. He didn't really have a choice, though, because I was basically attached to him. Damian hated it. They both still scowl at each other to this day.
I know that our families are criminals doing criminal things, but it makes it better that they do not do human trafficking, plus, they've all treated me like I was precious all my life, while also teaching me self-defense. They're my family, and you can't choose your family, just love them unconditionally.
As I stand here staring out over the ocean, feeling Damian's presence behind me, I reminisce on all the times I had with my father before his trips home dwindled to practically nothing. I'm a daddy's girl at heart, and I used to be close to my mother, but as the years went on, from the time I turned eight and we met the Volkovs, she drank more, was clearly unhappy, and is always screaming at my father about stupid shit just to get his attention. But it never works; he just turns around and leaves to go to whatever woman he has on the side at the time, and the only reason I know this is because my mother would then take her anger out on me.
Mamma used to always refuse to give me full meals, ensuring I stuck to water and salad, waking me up at 4 AM every day to do two hours of hard cardio exercise to the point of exhaustion, and with my father gone more and more just to get away from her, he couldn't put a stop to it, and I couldn't tell him. I tried calling Damian once, but a woman answered, and I hung up, crying, when I realized the love of my life was with someone else. I never tried again.
I expected him to announce seeing someone, but he never did.
Up until last year, Mamma's anger was just words, mainly about my weight and how I wouldn't amount to anything, or how no man would ever want me. Then I turned sixteen, and my used-to-be chubby body that she never let me live down went curvy and natural, and I grew into my curves. I'm only 5’5”, so it took a while to grow into them. She still tries to force salads down my throat, but I eat out more with Damian, so now she's started lashing out with her fists, because she can no longer control what goes into my body. The first time she slapped me was because she found condoms in my father's pants pockets.
Rookie mistake, Daddy!
After she hit me, she cried and hugged me, apologizing over and over. Still, after a few months of the same routine and me trying to avoid her at all costs, she'll purposely find me and scream that it's all my fault, that my father strays because I'm a girl. He needs a boy to take over as Don after he retires…or gets killed—her words, not mine.
I haven't told anyone, because I'm supposed to be strong, but sometimes I don't want to be. Damian has his own life I don't want to interrupt, and my father is never home. I would tell Noah, but he'll probably start a war. So, I'm alone.
I miss my papa so much, but I'm beginning to resent him for what he's doing to me. I know he won't divorce my mother; not only is it something we don't believe in, but Mamma would also take him to the cleaners, since she has proof of his infidelities. It's why I'm here now, at my favorite place, two hours away from home, after running run past the guards and driving myself here like a NASCAR driver. None of the guards could keep up; I lost them on the highway, and my mother, well, she was drunk again and, apparently, it's my fault that my father has strayed to a 20-something-year-old woman who thinks she's pregnant. I told Mamma to just divorce him if she's so unhappy, but that earned me a bloody lip. She avoids the face normally, but today, she didn't.
She screamed, "I can't divorce him, he's all I have. I can't breathe without him, you stupid bitch."
At her admission, my heart actually broke, but before I could talk to her about it, she turned around and left with a defeated look on her face. As soon as she stumbled out of the room, she made a massive mistake. She told Mattia to do whatever he wanted to me without realizing what she was saying. She handed me to the beast, who smirked at me with an evil glint in his eyes. I shivered at the memory of it.
