Alessandra
“Let’s talk somewhere else,” Giorgio said and led us down the hallway.
I could still hear Romeo’s voice echoing inside the church. I wasn’t sure if he had any idea just how loud he was being, but it was bloodcurdling. The pain he was going through must have been overwhelming. He’d been shot, and his bride had been married to his scheming brother. What was meant to be a celebration had ended in blood.
Lucia had been kidnapped, and Gianni was still alive. I couldn’t fathom how that had happened. Where had he been hiding? Why would he hide like that? I simply didn’t understand—my parents had died for nothing. The only thing that had caused Angelo Cavetti to react the way he had was because he’d assumed that my family had killed Gianni. It had all turned out to be a lie. And now Lucia, pregnant with the heir to both our family names, had been taken away.
The tears were hot as they streamed down my face and blurred my vision. I could barely make out my sister and brother’s expression. There was tension in the air between us as the reality of the situation slowly dawned on each of us. I didn’t even want to think of Savio anymore. It seemed pointless, especially when there was so much else going on. I’d been petty.
“Are you okay?” Chiara asked Giorgio as he passed us.
“No. I’m not. I can’t believe Gianni’s alive. I can’t believe our parents were killed for nothing.”
The anger he held was a raw reflection of what we were all feeling. He was gripping his hand into a fist, and his dark hair fell around the back of his neck. It had been so long since I’d seen him that it was hard to believe this was the same man who had played with Barbie dolls with me and protected me from bullies. He was so different. They’d destroyed the parts of him that I’d loved and created someone who was a shell of the brother I remembered so fondly.
Giorgio opened the door to one of the waiting rooms and waited for us to go in. He was sweating profusely, and his dark brown hair was attached to his skin as he slammed the door closed behind him. He let out a sigh of relief as he took a seat in a nearby chair, which was upholstered with a cross along the back. I rounded the chair as Giorgio took a seat and placed my hands on his back.
“I can’t believe this is happening. I’ve had enough,” Giorgio said, still facing the ground. “First, our parents. Then, Antonio, and now, this. I can’t do this anymore.”
“What do you mean, Antonio?” Chiara asked, lifting her head. “What happened?”
Giorgio had tears in his eyes as he raised his eyes to us. “You didn’t hear?”
My heart leaped inside my chest. As if it wasn’t stressful enough. At that moment, I also had to break the news to my twin—my best friend—that our brother had died. A lump formed in my throat as she stared me down.
“Antonio’s been dead for months. They shot him dead when he tried to escape from his cell. No one told you?”
“I’m sorry, Chiara,” I nearly whispered.
Her expression shifted from shock to pain, and I knew then that I’d messed up. I should have told her sooner. “You fucking knew?”
She rarely swore. It caused my entire body to recoil. Chiara had always been the more wholesome of us, and she never resorted to swearing or yelling. I had wronged her. I knew that. I couldn’t bring myself to look her in the eyes, even though she deserved that much.
“You have to understand,” I told her, stepping forward, wanting to remedy the situation in any way I could. “I didn’t want to hurt you.”
What pain had been there turned to anger. Her jaw clenched, and her hand formed into a fist. I was sure she was going to hit me. I wouldn’t blame her. She had every right to retaliate. I was supposed to be her confidant, and I’d kept something so important from her. I was terrible in every way. My hands started to shake as I took another step toward her, reaching my hand out into the space between us.
She pushed my hand aside, her jaw tight. “Don’t touch me. I’m leaving.”
Giorgio and I watched in silence as she left. The door slammed behind her, and the noise from outside became muffled again. I wasn’t sure what we could do, what I could do to make things better. I’d messed up. I had lost the trust that my twin had in me since we were born, and I only had myself to blame.
“Why didn’t you tell her?”
I lowered my eyes to Giorgio, who wore his disappointment in his expression. “I thought I was doing the right thing.”
He shook his head. “You should have said something sooner.”
He was right, of course. I should have.
I reached for a seat along the wall and winced as the metal scratched against the wood floor. There was no dealing with it at that moment. There was too much going on. I was sure that I could make Chiara understand, so long as we had an opportunity to discuss. She’d have to.
“Did you see what they did with his body?” I asked Giorgio, breaking the silence between us.
He glanced up to me, his eyes deep in their sockets. He looked nothing like the brother I remembered. It broke my heart. There I’d been in my cell, just down the hall, and I hadn’t been able to help him. I thought I’d heard someone’s anguish, but I hadn’t realized it was my brother’s. The walls were so thick that it was nearly impossible to hear through them. I could see the scars along his arms, and I had to look away.
Giorgio’s lips quivered. “No. I only heard them bragging about shooting him down.”
It was as though someone had taken a sledgehammer to my chest. My eyes welled with tears that I thought I had used up. They streamed from my swollen eyes as I thought about my oldest brother being shot down like an animal. I placed my head in my hand and cried quietly, not wanting to upset Giorgio anymore than I already had.
