Savio
“We’re letting them roam about now,” my father said, all while forcing a piece of nearly raw steak into his mouth. “The girls have proven that they can be trusted that much. Still, I want you guys to watch them. One fucking wrong move, and we take them out. Make an example.”
My stomach churned at the thought of something happening to Alessandra. I remained silent, peering over the table at Marcello. It seemed he thought my father was too drastic too. Marcello’s usual façade of playing the cold, distant sibling was beginning to slip. Based on what I knew about his secret visits to the dungeon, I could tell by his eyes that he was beginning to care about Chiara. Not that it was any of my business.
“We can trust Lucia,” Romeo told my father, cutting into his roasted potatoes, which were seasoned with spices that came all the way from Italy. “She’ll talk to the other girls.”
“What about Giorgio?” Natalia asked.
We all turned to Natalia, who was always disappearing for the past few months. I’d barely even noticed her around the house. It was as though she’d disappeared from my life completely. We’d always been the closest, but I’d been so wrapped up in what was happening with Alessandra that I’d overlooked my sister completely. We’d had a few conversations, but nothing of note—not like how we’d been before.
Her dark hair was curled, and her lips were pursed as she waited for our father’s response. She was always the one that my father dismissed. In return, she always had a bit of an attitude. It wasn’t with everyone—it was primarily with our father. She had a distaste for him, even though she could be cruel in her own way, just as he could. She was still nothing close to Romeo, who had a taste for cruelty that none of us could even attempt to understand.
My father smacked his lips as he chewed his steak and pointed his fork at Natalia. “What do you mean?”
Natalia sighed. “Will Giorgio be allowed to roam around the house too?”
“Does it matter?”
Natalia shook her head and lowered her eyes. My father was getting aggravated with even considering that one of the Bonifacio men was still alive. I knew that they had suffered the most out of the Bonifacio siblings, simply for not being women. I wondered why he hadn’t gotten rid of them. Why had he continued to beat and torture them? It was like breaking them had brought him the satisfaction he’d needed from destroying our rival family.
Natalia shrugged. “Well, if the girls are granted that kind of opportunity, then it’s only fair.”
“The fuck do you care?” my father growled.
I placed my fork next to my plate, not wanting to eat the steak anymore. There was a tension that fell around the dining table. This was why we never ate together. My father always made things difficult or started a fight that didn’t need to be started. Natalia had fully backed off but knew that she had to answer him, or things would get worse.
“I was just wondering,” Natalia finally said, biting her lip. “Just haven’t heard anyone talking about what’ll happen to him.”
Romeo took a bite of his potatoes and turned to Natalia. “He’s going to the wedding.”
She seemed confused by this. “So, he’s going to the wedding, but he isn’t allowed around the house?”
“Drop it, Natalia,” my father told her, his tone sharp. “Eat your fucking food and forget about Giorgio. Lucia got her way. He’s going to the wedding. It’s done.”
Seeing my father get worked up over one Bonifacio was enough to make me shake my head. All it took was one minor inconvenience, and everything was ruined. It was the first dinner we’d had together in months, and one question was enough to change the mood around the table. We ate in silence, and I watched as our maid, Phillipa, gathered dishes to take upstairs, passing through the dining room with plates for the girls.
Regardless, I always returned to thoughts of Alessandra. As many women as I’d been with, none of them had excited me to the extent of what she’d done to me. The thoughts of her had constantly been nagging at me every moment of every day. It felt like I had become addicted to her. I forced my thoughts away from it and focused on my meal. I needed to go for a run—anything to take my mind off of Alessandra. It was enough to drive me crazy. It had been days, and I was at a loss for what to do.
My father peered around the table, his gaze lingering on each of us. I wondered what was going through his mind. Everything he did seemed as though it was calculated. There was always the need for power, and it always felt as though he was analyzing us. I kept my eyes on my plate, not wanting to deal with another outburst from him. It’d been a long day, and I was too exhausted to take on his frustration.
I simply wanted to stay in that haze that Alessandra had given me. I wanted to stay there forever, constantly feeling as though I were flying. It was a strange sensation. There were butterflies in my stomach at the thought. I yearned for her touch, her smile, and her soft lips. I was desperate to taste her again, but I was too apprehensive. I was held back, not only by my family obligations but by my own insistence that things would go wrong. Everything would go wrong if my father found out. In our family, everything was too fragile. It usually didn’t require much for things to go wrong. Merely looking at our father the wrong way, refusing to answer a question, or not making your own choices were more than enough. And I was afraid of what my father could do if he found out about Alessandra and me. I feared what he could do to her. I couldn’t bear the thought.
“What’s with you all?” my father asked.
We peered at one another, unsure of what he meant by that. The silence felt heavier, as though there was a weight on all of us. Romeo was the only one who seemed remotely unfazed. It was because he knew that our father wouldn’t bother him too much, not like he would with us.
“There’s nothing wrong,” Marcello finally said, lowering his eyes back to his food. “We’re just eating.”
“That’s not what I fucking meant, and you know it. I’m talking about this Bonifacio fixation you all have.”
My father’s face grew a deeper shade of red, and I stopped eating entirely. I wanted to do nothing more than to get up and leave. I could tell that the others wanted that too. Still, we forced ourselves to stay.
“What? Is no one going to fucking answer me?”
I’d seen each of us with our own Bonifacio women. Natalia, if she’d done anything, had been on the low about whatever it was she was doing, but I was sure that there must’ve been something she was doing. Her curiosity must’ve peaked when they entered our home. I had no doubt that she must have paid at least one of them a visit. I wasn’t sure who it would have been, but she must have been a little interested in what they had to say or what kind of conditions they were held in.
Marcello glanced at Romeo, waiting for him to pick up the pieces. This was why we all avoided dinner together. Why the hell would we subject ourselves to our father’s wrath? It was bad enough he constantly fumed when he was walking through the house. Once we were subjected to dinner, there was nowhere to run. We were trapped with him and his shitty attitude.
