Chapter 6 #2
Giorgio didn’t know what to think, and my aunt’s face reflected nothing.
She had no opinion on that matter. She generally had no opinion on anything. That’s how she was born.
I didn’t even crack a smile.
I only shoved half of my cannoli into my mouth and sank my teeth into the freshly baked crust and sweet, flavorful ricotta filling.
My taste buds tingled as they do now as I recall that taste. Smooth ricotta, powdered sugar, warm sweet cinnamon aroma, bits of chocolate, and pistachio.
Mmm… So good.
I always asked the cook to put tiny squares of candied orange peel into the filling of my cannoli, and that day it hadn’t been different.
Nobody else had an opinion on what I’d said.
After a few more moments of awkward cackling on my mother’s part, Giorgio lifted an eyebrow, and my mask slid back over my face.
We moved on as if what I’d said meant nothing.
“They’re not old,” she says, placing her empty glass on the table. She must need a second drink. “Antonio is barely twenty-six, and Marco is thirty-two. They also have a cousin, if you remember. Andrea Mancuso. His family controls half of Napoli.”
I lift my hand.
“I was fucking with you,” I mutter. “I’m familiar with the Sandoval Brothers and their psycho cousin.”
She gives me that fake chuckle again, which makes my hackles rise.
“Go. Enjoy your dinner,” I say. “It’s too early to make domestic arrangements for me,” I add dryly, ending our conversation. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I think I just saw Aurora,” I say, although I haven’t moved my eyes away from her since we started talking.
“Sure. We’ll talk later,” she says, her voice flat like a pricked balloon.
No longer looking at her, I square my shoulders, tilt my chin up, and walk across the room.
Checking the guests, I search for the only man who isn’t in the room, feeling like a mafia princess who is about to be bartered.
So, that’s what this whole thing was all about.
They’re using my birthday––my fucking birthday––to start negotiating my next departure.
And who are they talking to?
The Sandoval brothers? And others like them?
The only reason she mentioned them first was to soften the blow when she moved on to the next man.
Andrea Mancuso is completely nuts.
I’ve heard stories about him and his women. In fact, I’ve been repeatedly advised by women in positions of less power to stay away from him.
If you ask me, he is bigger and more powerful than the Sandoval Brothers. An alliance with him would increase my family's power tenfold.
The Sandoval Brothers are up and coming. They have great potential and are easier to converse with.
I see a plethora of benefits in striking an agreement with them, not necessarily in marrying me to one of them.
But Andrea would be the best bang for the buck, or in this case, my cute little ass.
So they started pimping me around, talking about me, my future, and my freedom. Already? Without even hinting that they’d be doing that?
Sandoval Brothers are not the worst thing that could happen to me, as I said before.
They’re handsome, and women swoon over them.
Any mafia princess would love to have their babies and wear a ring that belonged to the matriarch in their family.
Andrea is a completely different story.
No matter how handsome he is, he's a savage when it comes to women and everything else in his life.
He takes pleasure in killing his enemies and fucking their wives next to their bleeding bodies.
He’s vicious and unhinged, but he’d never touch me––I don’t think so––for fear of risking a mafia war.
There are worse ways to break me than the ones he routinely uses, and no one would bat an eyelash if he did that to me.
My lovely family from hell.
Oh… I knew they were up to something.
All that ‘space that I needed for myself’ was nothing but a ruse.
Was Callum part of their abject betrayal? Is he now?
Does he know about all this? Did he know about it in the past?
He was the one who showed me to the door back in New York.
Yeah… He must’ve been part of the plot.
I wonder if he did it voluntarily or because Giorgio asked him to handle me.
What a bunch of traitors.
And now I wonder… Is he coming here tonight to have dinner with those men and talk about this?
Probably.
I’m sure they’d watch their language in his presence.
This is serious business, after all.
They’re talking about my future when all they want is more money and more power.
Greed will be the end of them all.
My chest hurts as I go over the sequence of events in my head.
Even if they all plotted against me, it was most likely Callum’s idea to send me here.
Perhaps he had even discussed this option with my mother while she was alive.
A shudder goes through me as my blood turns cold and goosebumps grow on my arms.
Would she do that to me?
Why the fuck not?
She didn’t like me in the house, especially with him there, which makes me think… She must’ve known what happened in the past.
My pulse races, and my lips tremble.
What a horrid setup.
She had her motives.
And he had his reasons after her death, too.
Although I find it increasingly harder to believe that he wanted to stay away from me to protect himself. I might be delusional about that, and there must be more to this story.
Oh, my poor dark soul.
Yes, he didn’t do it all alone.
They were all in.
Even this glamorous big party is a glorious setup.
I wonder whose idea this was.
It was my idea, but who suggested it?
Nona asked me if I wanted a huge birthday party before we talked about the details and how to organize it.
I wanted it to show the world that I was still alive and thriving.
It’s been two years since Bianca passed, people have mourned enough, and I wanted to put out a statement that I’m ready to exert my power.
I also wanted to let him know that I’m a real woman now.
What has happened to me over these past two years?
My reflection flutters across a wall mirror, and a volcanic woman with smoldering eyes looks back at me, her stare woven with fury.
This happened.
I’ve grown up and changed. And I’m not the only one who notices that.
There was the mourning time, and now it’s open season. They have a few men lined up for me.
I can’t believe they’ve even considered Andrea Mancuso.
Have they lost their fucking minds?