KIRA
The row home is a few blocks from my old apartment, which I find kind of ironic. All this time, I’ve been living not too far from a man who used to know my father and could have told me everything I needed to know.
I’m tempted to turn back. This is a very bad idea. After Stellan’s ascension, he hasn’t been around much, and I still have a million questions. I get the feeling my husband isn’t going to be that helpful.
Which means I need someone else.
I’m nervous as I knock on the door. I know there’s a driver and an armed guard waiting in the street nearby, and they won’t let anything happen to me. I’m the Don’s wife now, as Stellan reminded me that night in the graveyard. I swear I can still feel him pulsing between my legs. I’ve never felt a man come like that before. It was like he flooded into me and hasn’t left since.
“Yes, hello, what can I—” Saverino stops midsentence and stares at me in surprise. “Kira Corsetti? Did Stellan send you?”
“Hello, Saverino. He actually doesn’t know that I’m here.”
Saverino looks past me to the street and glances both ways. “Really, Kira, how did you even get my address?”
“I found it in his email. Don’t ask me how I checked it.” That would be Gem’s doing. She found his password written on a Post-It note. My genius sister didn’t even bother questioning why I was snooping on my own husband.
“Well then, come inside, come inside. What can I do for you?”
Saverino’s home is a warm and nice place. It’s not overly expensive, but the furniture is all good quality, and it’s impeccably neat. Photos of his family hang on the walls. Two sons, two daughters, and they all look just like him.
“I was hoping I could ask you some questions about my father.”
Saverino’s shoulders tense, but he leads me into the kitchen and sits me down at the table. A woman around his age looks at me with surprise and delight. She comes over and introduces herself as Julia, and I put it together that she’s Saverino’s wife.
“How about something to eat?” she asks. “You just married Stellan, didn’t you? I swear, that man isn’t feeding you at all. I’ll make tea and we have some leftover pizza my son made if you like, or I have some cheese, crackers, some decent salami?—”
“No, honestly, I’m fine.”
Saverino beams at his wife and kisses her cheek. “This one’s about business, dear.”
“Business.” She scowls. “It’s always business with these men. Don’t tell me you’re getting infected by them too?”
“Just for today.”
“Ah, well, I’m still putting on tea. Deal with it, Sav.”
“As if I could stop you, darling.”
I watch the two of them bicker happily. She serves me black tea with a little milk and honey before retreating into another room. Saverino sits across from me, adjusts his button-down shirt, and leans back in his chair. His smiling, happy face fades away.
“I liked your father very much. I just want to be clear about that. Bryan was a good man.”
“What happened? I mean, Stellan told me the basics, about the book, but—” I awkwardly hold my tea in both hands. “I feel like I never knew him.”
“Does anyone know their parents when they’re young? To children, our parents are a mystery. They justare. Not people, but something bigger.”
“My father felt like that. He was good to me.”
“That’s not a surprise, considering how he treated your mother.” He smiles again fondly. “Poor Bryan. He had a soft spot for that woman. How is she doing, anyway?”
“I don’t know. She ran off a couple years back. I think she’s living in Florida with her boyfriend, last I heard.”
“That’s not a surprise. Honestly, I thought she’d be dead by now.”
“We all did.”
“You want to know why your father betrayed everything he believed?” Saverino looks away, glancing up toward the ceiling with a fond smile. “He would’ve said it was for love.”
