"I wasn't even going to come. Free dinner at some place I've never heard of? From a random call? It screamed scam. But then..." She trails off, chewing her bottom lip the way she does when she's trying to figure something out. "I don't know. Something just pulled me here. Like I needed to be here. Does that sound crazy?"
No. It sounds like Lorenzo.
"When I walked in and saw you sitting here alone, I thought maybe you'd arranged it somehow. Like maybe you'd found a way to contact me without your uncle knowing." Her grip tightens. "But you didn't, did you? You look as shocked as I feel."
I shake my head slowly, my mind racing. Lorenzo left me here alone. Lorenzo who has access to everything through Vittoria's computer skills. Lorenzo who knows I've been drowning in isolation.
Did he really bring my best friend to me?
"Soph?" Marina's voice pulls me back. "What's going on? Where have you been? Your uncle's story doesn't make sense. You wouldn't just disappear."
I open my mouth, then close it. What can I possibly tell her? That I'm hiding with the Sartori family? That I'm engaged to Lorenzo as a business arrangement? That in forty-eight hours, if Francesco agrees, the whole city will know I'm marrying into their biggest rival family?
"I..." The words stick in my throat. "Marina, it's complicated."
"Complicated how?" She leans forward, lowering her voice. "Are you in trouble? Is it about your mom's medical bills? Because if you need money?—"
"No." I almost laugh at the innocence of that suggestion. If only it were something as simple as debt. "It's not money."
"Then what? Sophia, you're scaring me. You look..." She studies my face, taking in details I probably don't want her to see. The exhaustion, the stress, the barely controlled panic that's been my constant companion. "You look terrified."
The waiter returns with a menu for Marina. She barely glances at it, ordering the first thing she sees just to make him go away.
"Talk to me," she pleads once we're alone again. "Whatever it is, we can figure it out together. That's what we do, remember? Team Sarina, taking on the world?"
Team Sarina. Our stupid nickname from freshman year when we thought college would be our biggest challenge. When we believed friendship could solve anything.
"I want to tell you everything." The words come out broken. "God, Marina, I want to tell you so badly. But I can't. Not yet. Not here."
"Why not?"
Because the truth would put you in danger. Because knowing what I know, where I am, who's protecting me—it would paint a target on your back. Because I've already lost my mother and I can't lose you too.
"Just... can we just sit here for a minute? Can we pretend everything's normal? And I promise that there will come a day that I'll tell you everything."
Lorenzo
I watch them through the security monitor in my office, the grainy black-and-white feed showing Sophia sobbing in her friend's arms. My chest tightens at the sight. She's been holding all that in, playing strong for me, for Pietro, for everyone.
"She showed." Dante's voice comes from behind me. He's leaning against the doorframe, arms crossed.
"I know." I keep my eyes on the screen. Marina Reeves, twenty, nursing student at UIC, clean record, no family connections to any of the families. Vittoria pulled everything on her within an hour of my request.
"You know Pietro's going to lose his shit when he finds out you brought a civilian into this."
I shrug, watching as Sophia grips her friend's hands across the table like she's drowning and Marina's the only thing keeping her afloat. "Pietro doesn't need to know."
"Right. Because nothing gets past Pietro in his own territory." Dante moves closer to the monitor. "She could be a liability."
"She's leverage."
"Against who? Sophia?"
I turn to face him. "For Sophia. There's a difference."
Dante raises an eyebrow but doesn't push. He knows me well enough to understand the distinction. Everything I do for Sophia makes her more mine, more dependent, more tied to this life. But it also makes her stronger, more willing to stay.
"Vittoria did good work," I say, turning back to the screen. "Found their entire friendship history through social media, text patterns, even their Venmo transactions. Coffee every Tuesday. Sushi twice a month. They've been inseparable since freshman year."
