Chapter 43 Sophie
S OPHIE
The entire family is in the kitchen listening to Sophie. Elena and Christian are seated in the restaurant along with the last of the breakfast diners.
‘We need to find a way to occupy him to give her time to get away,’ Sophie finishes.
‘We will tell the police. They will arrest him,’ Loretta says.
‘Arrest him for what?’ Sophie replies. ‘They can’t do anything without proof. Elena needs to run. It’s the only way.’
Loretta gnaws at a nail. ‘Too dangerous.’
‘It’s more dangerous for her to stay.’ Sophie turns to Rocco. ‘What can we do to distract him?’
‘I don’t know,’ he replies.
‘What about inviting him to be in the protest?’ Salvatore says.
‘What protest?’ Marina asks.
Rocco drums his fingers on the kitchen bench. He slowly shakes his head at his cousin.
‘What protest, Rocco?’ Sophie repeats.
Rocco sighs. ‘You know about the festival for the Epiphany, yes?’ he tells her. ‘La Regata della Befana , where we race the gondolas to the Ponte di Rialto?’
Sophie nods.
He continues. ‘This year, all of us in the race are planning a protest. We are going to block the canal with our gondolas to stop the cruise ships from entering, so—’
All hell breaks loose in the kitchen with everyone shouting at once. Piano accordion hands are flying around everywhere.
‘You did not tell me about this!’ Loretta shouts.
‘Nobody was supposed to know.’ Rocco throws Salvatore a filthy look.
‘Sorry.’ Salvatore doesn’t sound sorry at all. ‘If Christian joins our team in the regatta, she can escape then.’
Alberto, who’s sitting at the bench stuffing himself with breakfast cake, begins to say something in Italian.
‘In English,’ Loretta interrupts him.
Alberto grunts. ‘Too long to wait.’
‘We have a meeting on Saturday to plan the protest. It will be for an hour or two at least,’ Salvatore says. ‘If he comes with us to the meeting, she can escape then, one day closer.’
‘Too long, no good,’ Alberto replies.
‘Papà is right, even Saturday for your meeting is still five days away,’ Marina says.
‘She’s survived this long, she can get through five more days,’ Sophie argues. ‘He’s over the moon at the moment, so hopefully that means she’ll be safe for a while. Getting him to the meeting on Saturday’s a good idea.’
‘No,’ Loretta insists. ‘We need to do something to save her now, today.’
‘Like what?’ Sophie asks her.
Loretta sighs and shrugs.
Sophie turns her attention back to Rocco. ‘Please trust me on this. Ask him to be in the protest, take him to the meeting. Please.’
‘Why would he even agree to be in the protest?’ Rocco says. ‘He is not Venetian. It makes no sense. He will say no.’
Loretta says something else and so does Marina, but Sophie isn’t listening to them any more. She keeps her focus squarely on Rocco. ‘I know how men like him think. Being asked will make him feel important. He won’t say no. Please, Rocco, I know I’m right about this. He’s sitting out there right now. Go and ask him.’
Rocco looks around the room at his family, then he nods at her and walks to the door that leads to the restaurant.
‘Santa Maria, this is a big mistake,’ Loretta says as Sophie follows him out.
Rocco walks towards Christian and Elena’s table. He leans over to speak in Christian’s ear and then leads him out to the lobby. The sight of Christian walking that cocky walk, with his perfect stubble and his trendy designer clothes, looking so pleased with himself, makes Sophie’s insides burn with rage.
As soon as the men are out of sight, she goes straight to Elena. She keeps a casual smile on her face in case Christian comes back in and sees them talking. ‘Apparently there’s going to be a protest at the big regatta next week. They’re going to block the entry to the canal with gondolas. Rocco’s inviting Christian to be part of it. He’s out there now asking him to attend a meeting this Saturday to plan the protest. You can escape while he’s there.’
Elena clasps her hands. ‘This is perfect, thank you so much.’
‘Is there anything else you need?’
‘No, I don’t think so.’
‘I’m so glad the pregnancy test worked.’ Sophie smiles at her.
‘God, me too.’
Sophie gives Elena’s bony shoulder a gentle squeeze and leaves before Christian returns.
When she heads back into the kitchen, everyone looks at her expectantly.
‘Elena said it’s a perfect plan,’ she says in a way that comes out a little too ‘told you so’.
Marina and Loretta respond with death glares that are quite frankly terrifying. But she knows she’s done the right thing by Elena and that’s all that matters.