I frown. “Ok?”
He gives me a pointed look that leaves a bad taste in my mouth. “If he marries either you or Susanna.”
All the air is blown out of my body. “What?”
“Yes. It’s time. You knew this day would happen.”
He’s not wrong. I always knew that I would marry a mafia man someday to make my family proud but I just didn’t expect it so soon.
“Susanna won’t like this,” I murmur. “She won’t want to be tied down. Not right when she turned eighteen.”
“He might choose you.”
“He hasn’t made a decision?”
“No. And I’m not going to tell him who to choose. But he’ll make the decision soon. Both you and Susanna should come over tomorrow so he can tell us his choice. It’s better we know sooner rather than later.”
“This isn’t going to go well.”
“I know,” he sighs. “But I need this alliance with Luca to work. So make me proud. You’ve grown a lot in two years. You’ve become friends with Katya and I’m grateful for that. Make me proud in this. And try to keep Susanna in line.”
“You know she never listens to me.”
“Just try.”
“I’m going to have to tell her about this when I get home. She has the right to be prepared too.”
His smile is gentle but there’s a tension around his eyes that tells me this whole thing makes him nervous. “I agree.”
We both know this isn’t going to be easy.
After spending some time with Katya, I go back home, bracing myself to tell Susanna the news. When I enter the house, I find her arguing with our mom in the kitchen.
“This isn’t fair!” Susanna screams. I flinch. What is going on?
“Alek told me that you and Nina snuck out last night. Of course I’m upset and I have the right to ground you for what you did.”
“I am legally an adult. You can’t!”
“You live in my house. I have a say over what you do.”
“Then I’ll move out,” Susanna declares, looking proud of herself.
“Move out where? You have no money yourself.”
“I’ll figure it out!”
“Can we stop arguing?” I ask, tentatively entering the room.
Susanna whips around and throws me an annoyed look. “How did Mom find out we snuck out? How did Alek know? Did you tell him when you went over to his place?”
“Alek knew because of Luca Moretti.”
Susanna frowns. “Who?”
“The man from the club last night. He’s in an alliance with Alek but he needs to marry one of us to secure it. So he’s going to choose tomorrow. Alek wants us to go over to his house for that.”
The room goes quiet. I figured it would be better to just spit it all out than drag it out forever.
