Whatever they’re discussing, whatever they’re hiding from me—I need to know.
Now.
I push open the office door without knocking, and all three of them jump like they’ve been caught doing something illegal.
“What truth?” I demand, looking straight at Dad. “What is it that I supposedly deserve to know?”
Dad’s face goes pale, and for a moment he looks like he’s going to be sick.
Bella reaches for his hand, and Antonio takes a step back like he wants to escape from whatever’s about to happen.
“There’s nothing,” Dad begins, but I can see the lie forming on his lips
“No.” I cross my arms and plant my feet. “No more deflecting, no more protecting me from whatever this is. I just heard you say that I’m going to find out eventually anyway, so tell me now. What did Giuseppe do to Sophia?”
Dad’s nostrils flare and he straightens to his full height—that intimidating posture that makes other men step back. “Bianca, go to your room. We’ll discuss this later.”
Is he seriously going to treat me like I’m five years old?
Go to my room?
He’s joking.
“Like hell we will.” My voice is getting louder, but I don’t care. “I’m not leaving until someone tells me what’s going on.”
“This isn’t up for debate,” Dad says, his voice taking on that cold authority that used to end arguments when I was younger. “You don’t need to know the details of?—”
“Ofwhat? What don’t I need to know?” I can feel my control slipping, nineteen years of being protected and sheltered and lied to finally boiling over. “I heard Antonio say I’m going to find out eventually anyway, so tell me now. What did Giuseppe do to my mother?”
Bella reaches for Dad’s arm, her fingers white where they grip his sleeve. “Matteo,” she says softly “maybe?—”
“No.” Dad shakes his head sharply, his face set in stone. “She doesn’t need to carry this. It’s not her burden.”
“It’s not your choice!” I explode, my voice echoing off the office walls. “It’s aboutmymother andmyfamily andmylife, so it is absolutely my choice! What did Giuseppe do to Sophia?”
The silence that follows feels deafening.
Dad’s face has gone ashen, and Bella’s eyes are bright with unshed tears.
Antonio looks like he wants to disappear entirely.
Finally, Dad closes his eyes, takes a shuddering breath, and when he opens them again, I see something that looks like complete defeat.
“He raped her,” he says quietly. “Giuseppe raped Sophia. Repeatedly.”
I feel something splinter inside me, but before I can fully process them, Dad continues.
“And nine months later, you were born.”
The world tilts sideways.
Nine months later. Giuseppe raped Sophia. I was born.
The math Antonio mentioned crashes over me with devastating clarity.
If Giuseppe raped my mother, and I was born nine months later, then the story Dad told me about Sophia being with someone else before their marriage was a lie.
Giuseppe isn’t my grandfather.
