Chapter 9 #2
“I won’t spit in the face of what Apollo has done for me and Yordan. But I know people this family has hurt and neglected, so forgive me if I don’t feel like toasting to your greatness.”
“Rayna…” Yordan speaks up, looking around the table with an awkward wince. “Maybe you shouldn’t—”
“Yes, Rayna, maybe you shouldn’t,” Melani interrupts.
“Maybe you shouldn’t be so vocal considering you’re the reason I’ve resented the Moretti name for years.”
Melani folds her arms over her chest. “Wow. I had heard that you were rude, but I didn’t expect you to be so brazen about it.”
“Oh, I’m sure we’ve both heard unpleasant things about each other, haven’t we?” Rayna laughs bitterly. “Personally, I’d rather be rude than heartless.”
“Heartless?”
Rayna lifts a shoulder, shrugging as if to say you heard me. “Heartless, unfeeling, cold to the bone, evil incarnate—whichever you prefer.”
Oh shit.
I wonder if Anya will let me call her to give her a play by play of this interaction. I don’t think texting would do it justice.
“Hey,” Emilio barks. “Watch how you speak to—”
“Watch how you speak, brother,” Apollo snaps in return, fist flexing on top of the table. “Let them settle it themselves.”
Melani huffs shortly. “I doubt there’s anything to actually settle.”
“Oh, there’s plenty,” Rayna disagrees, face beginning to turn red. “It will never be settled, though. Being in the same room as you makes me fucking sick.”
“I think we should all take a breath,” Dad suggests calmly. Looking at our guest, he adds, “Rayna, if you wouldn’t mind clarifying. Clearly you think you know something that we’re missing. Who have we neglected and why do you think it involves Melani?”
I would also like to know.
“Yes, please tell us,” Melani drawls.
Rayna stares at her and finally bites out one word.
“Sienna.”
Melani flinches.
“Sienna Bianchi. Does that ring a bell? Or have you wiped your little sister from your memory entirely? You sure act like you have.”
“S-sienna?”
“She has a sister?” Jade whispers, nudging my side.
“I honestly didn’t know,” I respond quietly, utterly confused. I know everyone. How the fuck don’t I know that Melani has a sister?
“Let’s take the kids out of here,” Cassio discreetly tells Ana. The two of them quickly gather the little ones, taking Cesar from my arms, and Isobella from Ivan’s. They usher all of them out of the room without making a scene.
“You abandoned her,” Rayna continues through clenched teeth.
Standing up from her chair, she smacks her hand against the tabletop hard before pointing an accusatory finger at Melani.
“You knew how awful your parents were and you still left her there without a second thought. You haven’t talked to her in years.
You didn’t even invite her to your wedding or say goodbye. ”
“My relationship with my family is none of your business.” Melani’s voice cracks, the confidence from moments ago being swept away by new and shocking information.
“The hell it isn’t!” Rayna shouts. “She’s my best friend, and she’s being tortured by your cunt of a mother while you live the good life. The mother who you still talk to, by the way!”
Elio flinches hard and I wonder what’s going through his head. He’s friendly with Rayna, more friendly than him and Emilio—his own twin—have been for years. Is he mad at her for lashing out? Or upset at what he’s hearing?
“Don’t speak about my mother.” Melani exhales shakily. “Sienna has always been a spirited girl. I don’t know what she’s told you, but I’m sure she is fine.”
“Oh, I get it,” Rayna spits out, laughing without humor. “You’re so deep in denial about how shitty your mother was to you, that you can’t admit that you haven’t even thought about what she could be doing to Sienna now that you’re gone.”
“We need to dial this back—” Emilio starts to say, but his identical twin isn’t having it.
“No,” Elio snaps. “Let her say it.”
Does he know what Rayna is going to say? I wonder silently, eyes swinging between him and Leon. If Elio knows, Leon might as well. But Leon doesn’t seem to be any less confused than I am. Did Rayna only confide in Elio?
“You’re here surrounded by a loving family that would do anything to protect you. Yet it seems to me that you didn’t even ask if they’d help Sienna too.” Rayna shakes her head, hurt sparking behind her eyes. “They lock her up in that awful house, and she can’t do anything without being monitored.”
“Which is entirely normal for mafia daughters—” Melani begins.
“I’m not finished!” Rayna yells, voice straining. “You’d know exactly what I’m talking about if you ever bothered to see her after you got married. One look at her face, and you’d know. Or should I say, your face.”
“What?” Elio asks what we’re all thinking.
“Ever since Melani snagged a Moretti husband, her evil bitch of a ‘mother’ has been forcing her to get fucking plastic surgery to look more like you. It’s been years.”
My jaw actually drops, but Rayna isn’t done yet.
“She tells her it’s the only way she’ll bag a proper husband like you did, and she’s convinced your dumbass father that all the changes are Sienna’s idea.
That she wants to have a new nose, cheek filler, and body modifications too.
She has to dye her hair, wear contacts, and your fucking face and body now.
She’ll never be able to breastfeed her future children because of complications that happened after her boob job, by the way. ”
Jade grabs my arm, her hand closes hard around my wrist—like she might fall over at the table if I don’t keep her stable. The horror of what Rayna is describing is probably almost too much for her to hear, and I don’t blame her. My appetite is officially gone, and that almost never happens.
“That house is a hell that even you couldn’t possibly imagine, because you didn’t get even a taste of the abuse she faces,” Rayna seethes, never taking her eyes off Melani.
“And still, you knew. You knew the way your mother picked and prodded at her. You knew the way she treated Sienna, and here I am finding out you’ve made no effort to get her out. ”
Throwing a hand in my direction, she continues to yell, “Matteo didn’t even know she existed, and from what Yordan says, he knows everyone! You could have asked your husband to go get her out, and you didn’t.”
“Is this true?” Dad demands, turning his attention toward Emilio and his wife. My brother looks utterly fucking confused and almost hurt, while Melani looks like she’s seen a ghost.
When Melani doesn’t answer, Rayna does it for her.
“Elio has been checking in on her for years, and she hasn’t said a word to him about how bad it really is there.
She hasn’t said anything because she doesn’t want to burden this family, or her own.
She’s been permanently altered by them, and she won’t tell Elio because she still loves her parents enough to not want them dead. ”
“Nico, let’s go,” Elio barks, standing up from the table with a violent push. His chair stumbles behind him.
“Nico?” Melani gasps, finally speaking up. “Do not hurt my family, Elio!”
“Get fucked, Melani,” he growls.
Nico gets up, a cold calculation filling his eyes as he moves toward Elio.
Melani makes a noise, like she’s going to protest further.
“I’m not going to slaughter them because she asked,” Elio states roughly. “But the fact that you care more about the state of their well-being than hers makes me tempted to disregard her wishes entirely.”
Apollo doesn’t leave room for any more discussion, standing up as he pulls out his phone. “I’ll call Abramo. Don’t land in his territory without my text confirming you’re free to.”
Nico nods, and Elio grunts, “Got it.”
“Well.” Dad clears his throat, watching them leave. “I believe dinner has run its course. Feel free to finish up at the table or in whatever room you’d prefer. I’m going to make a few calls.”
Melani flees the table without a word, Emilio follows her, and Rayna drops down into her seat, exhaling hard. She steals Apollo’s unfinished wine and chokes it down, looking up at the ceiling.
Twenty minutes later, things have calmed down, and I’m not sure what to do with all the information that came out tonight.
I was hoping for lighthearted bickering, some teasing, and some drama.
Not life-altering news that throws the family into tension.
Not that I blame Rayna, it seems like she was dying to get that out, and apparently, Elio only knew that Sienna existed.
Not that she was being essentially tortured daily.
One thing is for sure, I want to talk to Anya.
Matteo
Dinner was not what I expected.
Anya
Do you want to talk about it?
I breathe out, smiling at her kind question. Deciding to take a risk, I type out my next message and hit send before I can rethink it.
Matteo
Can you FaceTime?