My heart twists in my chest, wringing the pain of the past into my blood.
Grace places her hand over mine.
"Is everything okay?" she asks.
"He said that he'd give me the names," I say. "Of the two men who were involved in my parents' murder."
"Oh," she says. "I thought you had to wait a few more years for the names."
“The Don changed his mind." I shug.
"Just like that?" she asks.
I almost tell her the truth.
But if I tell her about theCosa Nostraprincess and how I’ll be handing her to my Don on a silver platter, Grace will see me for the monster I really am.
So I tiptoe around the truth.
“He said that he was proud of how I took care of his businesses while he was away,” I say.
“That’s nice of him,” she says, watching me. “Do you know what you’re going to do once you get the names?”
"I'll spare you the details, but I've had it planned out meticulously since I was a young boy," I say.
She looks at me for a moment before glancing out of the window once again.
I get the feeling that she has a lot more she wants to ask me, but she doesn't.
There's so much going on all at once. My mind tries to pull me in a hundred different directions, but I keep my focus on Grace. I want to exist in her tonight. I want to kiss her until she falls asleep in my arms.
"Let's get out of here, little bird."
She smiles at me.
I can't help but notice that it doesn't reach her eyes.
33
GRACE
Truth by omission is still a lie.
I have reason to believe that Dante is lying to me.
Growing up, my mother had appointed all sorts of tutors for our education. My sisters and I had to choose to learn a second language. I picked Italian.
I withheld this information from Dante, but I'm nearly fluent in Italian. I can't speak like a native, but I know enough to understand everyday conversations.
And from what I understood last night, Dante was asked to find someone in exchange for the names.
I'm not sure how I feel about all of it. An innocent girl might get hurt because Dante wants the names of the people who killed his parents.
And there's the matter of Enzo.
I haven't seen him since the fashion show yesterday, but Dante said something very peculiar right before we met Don Savastano. He implied that the Don didn’t know about Enzo’s existence.
If Enzo isn’t a part of the mafia, then who is he?
