Page 112 of The Savage

Maddie wipes her face, eyes burning. ‘Giada… picciridda… please. Look at me.’

Giada looks, but it’s the hollow gaze of someone staring through smoke into a burning house. Her whole body trembles against mine.

‘She doesn’t remember you,’ I say quietly, shifting her behind me when she curls in on herself. ‘She remembers pieces. Some faces. Enough to hurt but not enough to make sense.’

‘And whose fault is that?’ Rafa snarls.

Sofiya’s voice slices through the air. ‘Rafa. Not now.’

He rounds on her. ‘Not now? She stood over our mother’s body, Sofiya!’

Giada pales. Her knees buckle.

Maddie lets out a sob.

Sofiya physically steps between them and Giada. ‘Shut up, Rafa.’

‘You shut up⁠—’

‘I’m not watching you traumatise her,’ Sofiya hisses, deadly quiet. Then she places a hand on his hard cheek, her face softening a fraction. ‘Stop monopolising all our sorrow. We all know what losing someone you love does to you. And you might not want to hear it, but Giada’s lost someone too. She’s lost her family for six fucking years.’

Giada gasps, her brain tracking everything, but her gaze remains on Rafa, dwelling on the most harrowing. ‘I didn’t – I don’t – did I?’ Her breath catches like a wire.

Then she clutches her head, squeezing her temples as if the pressure might keep her skull from splitting.

And then she looks at me.

Only me.

As if I’m the only fixed point in a spinning universe.

‘Renzo… I don’t understand any of this. Are they telling the truth? Are we enemies? Is this – are you⁠—’

She can’t finish.

I cup her face with both hands. ‘I’ve got you. I’ve got you.’

She presses her forehead to mine. ‘Please don’t let them hurt me.’

Maddie breaks – completely – and sobs into her hands.

Cesare’s jaw tics as he sweeps one shoulder around his wife, dragging her into his body and murmuring in her hair. After a minute, Maddie nods. Her hiccups linger but she quits weeping. He looks at Sofiya, then at Rafa… and knows I’m right.

He lifts a palm. ‘Everyone, stand the fuck down.’

Rafa bristles. ‘The fuck for?’

‘Because screaming isn’t going to change what happened six years ago,’ Cesare growls. ‘And because we all need answers. Giada too.’

‘No.’ Giada shakes her head violently. ‘No, no, I’m not – I’m not ready⁠—’

Cesare steps forward, voice low and heavy with authority. ‘Let’s start with proper introductions. I’m Cesare Salvatore.’ He holds out his hand.

Giada stares at it like it’s a cobra poised to strike. But then she sucks in a breath and slides hers into his.

My brother holds on far longer than I’d like, but she’s in his clutches. To react now will be to swing the pendulum in ways I don’t like. So I force myself to remain still.

‘I’m Benedetta.’