AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“No. There’s been no word from anybody! What if he’s dead? What if we indirectly killed him?”
I rub at my brow, not knowing what to say. “Time will tell, Carla, keep faith. Vincenzo won’t?—”
“You don’t understand?—”
A knock on the door makes her clam up, and after another knock, Tasha opens the door. “Are you staying for dinner? We’ve got so much leftover wedding food.”
“I’m going to take a shower,” Carla says as she gets off the bed.
She doesn’t notice the pile of used tissues crumbling like a tower to the floor in her wake. She’s been hiding those from me. I didn’t see them when I arrived, because she literally sat down on them when I walked in.
“Have you checked with Stephano?” I ask Tasha as I stand. Something’s up with Carla, and for the life of me, I can’t pinpoint it.
“He said to check with you.” She smiles, but it’s forced as she arches an eyebrow at the pile of tissues on the bed.
I walk out of Carla’s room and reach for Tasha’s arm as she closes the door. “Has she spoken to you at all? Because she isn’t speaking to me.”
“No, I’m sorry. It seemed like she was coping, but she spent the whole day locked up in her room. I’m glad you came to see her.”
“What does it help if I come see my sister, but she doesn’t open up to me?” I feel lost, unfit to mother my younger sister. Something that’s become harder with each year she gets closer to adulthood. It’s as if she’s saved face until the wedding was over and then basically caved in. “She needs to see a therapist. Talk to someone.”
“I’ll ask Matteo,” Tasha says, but shakes her head as she tugs at my hand. “Come. I hate standing here.”
“Why? It has such a view over the first floor. All the flowers from yesterday?—”
A shiver runs through her. “Let’s just say, I’ve seen things from this exact spot when Matteo held me captive…things that can’t be unseen.”
“What?” We’re making our way to the stairs.
“I shouldn’t have said anything, but I’m keen for us to move out of this apartment, and Matteo is working on it.”
Oh my God. She saw someone being killed here, didn’t she?
“Whoever it was, please tell me he deserved it,” I say softly.
“Totally.” She meets my gaze, and the particular understanding for this life, for what Mafia men get up to and how it affects us, passes between us.
I swallow, knowing the lay of the land. “Don’t bother talking to Matteo. We both know no Scalera is going to allow us to talk to outsiders, even a shrink under oath of confidentiality.”
She squeezes my arm. “I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay. Let me see if Stephano wants to stay for dinner.”
“How was last night?” Tasha asks as we descend the stairs.
Honestly. Can everybody stop poking their noses in our business already? “It was fine.”
“I can’t help feeling there’s something brewing between you two. The way Stephano kissed you yesterday?—”
“There’s nothing going on between us.” Never mind sex, kissing is the last thing on the agenda, even though he made my knees weak with his kiss when we sealed our marriage. I couldn’t deny him that one so we’ll have a photo as proof should Homeland Security ever come poking around our fake marriage.
Matteo’s office door opens as we take the last stair, and Stephano’s eyes catch mine across the expanse of the room. My heart skips a beat, and my stomach flutters with butterflies as if on cue. I can feel Tasha’s gaze burning on me as a blush spreads like wildfire over my cheeks.
“I knownothingwhen I seenothing,” she says with a suppressed smirk.
I can’t stay a minute longer than needed in this apartment, being scrutinized like a bug, and pretending I’m fine. “We won’t stay for dinner. Thank you all the same.”
“You good to go home, Gigi?” Stephano asks as he closes in on us, probably having read my expression.
