The twins are asleep, nestled into their baby carrier. Katerina sits on the sofa and rocks her baby brother in her arms. At the moment, everyone’s quietly chit-chatting and the atmosphere’s peaceful at Ravenna’s home where we’ve all gathered.
“You really should have told us the truth about what was going on with Maximo,” Arianna chastises me. Ginevra and Sophia turn their attention to us and nod their agreement. Ravenna gives me a sympathetic glance.
“I know.” I sip my espresso, doing my best to ignore the lingering burn across my butt cheeks from Maximo’s punishment. “I just thought I could deal with it on my own. I’m sorry.”
Arianna leans forward, her gaze intense. “Makes me wonder what else you’ve been keeping from us.”
Guilt threatens to devour me. It’s not long before I break under her scrutiny. “You’re right, I have been hiding things.” With a big breath in, I release the truth. “My plan was to leave. To disappear.” I cringe at how selfish that sounds aloud. And it was a selfish plan.
I’m met with three matching expressions of disbelief and hurt. Ravenna says, “I know. That was our plan, but you wouldn’t go through with it at the wedding.”
I cringe as I admit, “No, I mean way before that. When I called you from California, that had been my plan.”
Ravenna’s features flicker with hurt. “You mean, you were just going to leave us? Like, forever? No goodbye? Elle…”
“I know. It’s horrible and I’m so sorry. California didn’t pan out anyway. Even so, I was thinking of returning to Italy, but then I saw the babies, held them, and I couldn’t go through with it. I knew I couldn’t abandon my family.” I swallow past the thickness in my throat.
Sophia quirks a brow. “How were you going to disappear? That’s not easy to do on your own without any resources. You said Maximo took everything away from you to trap you here. So how were you planning on getting away?”
Another wave of guilt crashes over me. Hanging my head, I confess. “Mrs. Rizzo. I fed her information on Maximo in exchange for a ticket out of here.”
My confession hangs in the air between us. The invisible weight of it presses down on my shoulders. Thick and unescapable. What I did was wrong on so many levels, I don’t know where to start apologizing for it all.
“So… you couldn’t turn to us for help, but you’d accept help from a near stranger?” Arianna crosses her arms. “Why would you do that?”
“I don’t know. I have no clue what I was thinking, other than I could somehow take care of myself. I believed I could navigate this world on my own and come out the other side, but I was wrong. I messed up by not trusting in all of you, in putting my trust in Mrs. Rizzo, and backstabbing Maximo.” Oh God, when I put it all together like that, what I did sounds even worse.
“Does he know?” Gin asks.
I nod. “He found out. I confessed after she had him shot because of some information that I gave to her.”
“Oh my god.” Ravenna pinches the bridge of her nose. “How did he take it?”
Adjusting in my seat, my cheeks grow warm. “We… uh… we got through it. Everything’s fine. He forgave me.”
“Well I’m more than a little surprised by that.”
I sigh. “Tell me about it. I’ve made a huge mess of things.”
“What are you going to do?” Sophia asks, concern scrawled across her features. “This is… a lot, Elena.”
“I know.” I straighten in my seat. “I’ve had some time to think about it, and since I don’t plan on leaving, I’ve decided to embrace my fate. I was raised here, I should have known this is where I’d end up. There’s no escape. I realize that now. More importantly, I don’t want to run away anymore. I’m tired of running. But if I’m going to survive, I need to be stronger, fiercer, and smarter. I need to show that bitch that there are consequences for her actions. I’m not her damn pawn.”
Gin giggles, breaking the tension in the air. “Bad boss mafia wife. I love it. Mrs. Rizzo should have thought twice before messing with your man, huh?”
My man. A blush creeps up my neck. I suppose he is my man.
“Speaking of Maximo,” Ravenna fusses with her sleeping twins, “what are you going to do about him? I still can’t believe he married you like that. What astronzo.”
My blush deepens. “Well… I mean I’ll never forgive him for that, but… staying here means I’d eventually marry someone. I’d rather it be the devil I know than some stranger.”Or maybe I’m falling in love with my husband.
“You don’t have to marry anybody,” Ravenna points out.
Gin snorts, then laughs at herself. “Some man would have eventually caught Elena. If it wasn’t Maximo, it would have been someone else. It happens to all of us.” We all stare at her. “What?It’s true. And just so you know, Maximo is madly in love with you. You should’ve seen the way he watched you at the hospital. That is the look of a man who’s completely obsessed. It’s the same way Blake looks at me, so I know what I’m talking about.”
“I think we’ve all seen the way he looks at you, Elena. He’d move mountains for you.” Sophia smirks. “Even so, I don’t regret punching him.”
Arianna snickers. “I wish I’d been there to see that.”
