Charlotte patted her huge stomach, glancing at me. Her eyes gleamed wickedly in the candlelight. “I should be able to see my sister. I haven’t seen her since—youknow. And the queenistaking visitors.” Turning, head held high, a look of triumph on her face, she started for the stairs.
The room below was suddenly filled with bodies, all standing around the two of us. I refused to let her get past the second step.
“Excuse me,” she said, throwing her hair back. There were times that Elliott came through her features, but beyond that, there was no comparison. “Let me through.”
When I refused to move, she tried to sidestep me, but I blocked her again.
“Charlotte!” Pnina hissed.
“No!” she said, truly obsessed at this point, turning to give her mother a narrowed eye. “He has no right to stop me!”
When a Poésy woman wanted something, it would be a battle of wills to stop her or take it from her. I had seen Pnina use that same stance. My wife too. But Charlotte wasn’t my wife. She wouldn’t cross me.
“This house belongs to my sister. You have your entire family coming and going as though you bought the place.Well,” she said, getting even huffier. “If all of theseItalianscan come and go as they please, so canI. I have a right to see my sister.”
To destroy her, I thought. She’d have to kill me first.
“Italians?—” Rosaria repeated with the same sneer in her voice. She sprung up a second later and went to charge her, but Rocco caught her before she did.
Charlotte gave her a smug smile, before turning around to face me again. “I’m not afraid of you, Brando Fausti. If I want to go up those steps, and I do, I will.”
Though she was fiery, she wasn't her sister. The thought stopped me cold.She wasn't her sister.I'd never let her hurt my wife, not in this way, but I couldn't help but feel pity for her. Scarlett had her own issues with being the shining star, but so did Charlotte, who was always in her shadow.
“Stop looking at me that way!” she hissed. More than my anger, the look in my eyes caused her to take a step back. Pity was a ruthless bitch when the recipient hated that whatever she lacked was being highlighted.
“You’ve always been a spoiled bitch,” Violet said, appearing next to me. “Why don’t you think of your sister for once? It’s so apparent how jealous you are. You’ve always been. Never could stand the fact that she was better than—”
“Enough!” Pnina said, glowering at Violet. “Enough! Do you hear me?”
Violet ignored her, taking a step closer to Charlotte, and the two women met nose to nose.
“My sister, theinnocent one,”Charlotte said in a childish voice.“The one who can do no wrong. She’s such a sneak. It’s pathetic. She’s pathetic. She has you fooled, doesn’t she?” She looked at me, smirking. I saw the hate in her then, the deep resentment. She might not throw cups, but she knew how to use words as weapons. “Just because she couldn’t do this one thing—have a baby—everyone is treating her like glass!”
The room stilled. The only noise was the crackle of the fire and a hiss when one of the logs split. The air seemed to grow thicker around us, almost smothering.
Violet took my arm, squeezing. She was trying to keep her temper in control, but she was having little success. “Brando won’t hit you, but I will.”
“I dare you,” Charlotte said, challenging her. “You’ll regret it.”
“No, that’s one thing I won’t do. All those times you lied on her, when you were the one doing the damage, and she never said a word about it.” Violet turned her face, meeting Pnina’s eye. “You sent her away, even when she didn’t want to go, because you took Charlotte’s word as law.”
“This is none of your concern!” Pnina said, defensive. “You will not speak to me in such a way.”
“Oh, she will,Mati,” Charlotte said, almost a grin on her face. “But she’s not the only one with secrets. How about we tell the room a story, a story about a woman who falls in love with two brothers—”
I had to keep Violet’s hand from popping Charlotte in the mouth. A fight broke out with words, one woman yelling over the other. Everett came in then, hair disheveled, wondering what the hell was going on. He could hear the shouting over the damn wind.
“What did you call my husband?”
The words seemed to slice through the storm, through the ruckus, commanding the room. Everyone froze. Scarlett was standing at the top of the stairs, looking down, like a perturbed soul finding her way back to administer retribution to those who had the nerve to disturb her peace.
“You heard me!” Charlotte snapped. “I was coming up to see you, to make sure—”
“I knew that you’ve finally done something I couldn’t. Carry a child. Yes, I know.”
Violet ran up to her then, keeping a hand on her. Scarlett swayed a bit, her face pale, but her cheeks were hot with blood. Eunice whimpered somewhere in the background.
“It’s apparent. Bravo to you.” Scarlett clapped a few times in a slow, mocking sort of way. “Would you like me to bow? Or will a standing ovation do, dear sister?”
