CHAPTER14
Serafina
Enzo never came to dinner and Luca was called away on an urgent matter ten minutes into our meal, so it was just Veda and I. She tried to talk Lisa, the one who’d made the delicious meal, into sitting and eating with us, but she refused, claiming she wanted to take advantage of the men’s absence to tidy up Luca’s office before she cleaned up the kitchen and finished up for the night.
Veda was quiet during our meal, but then again, so was I. My stomach was in knots, and I pushed my food around on my plate, unable to eat more than a few bites.
“I know what you’re thinking.”
I looked up in surprise to find Veda’s eyes on me. “I’m sorry?”
She gave me a small smile. “I know what you’re planning, Sera. And let me be the first to tell you, it’s not going to work.”
I didn’t insult her intelligence by pretending not to know what she was alluding to. “It has to work. I can’t stay here and wait for my father’s men to show up to take me home.”
“What makes you think Enzo will allow them to do that? Did he say something?”
I shook my head. “No. He told me he and Luca would figure something out.”
“Well, there you go. You have nothing to worry about.”
I set down my fork and sat back in my chair, giving up all pretense of eating. “Then why did he tell me goodbye this afternoon?”
Veda’s smile fell from her face. “He said that?” she asked quietly.
“No. Not with words.”
She stared at me, not understanding at first, before saying, “Oh.”
“I tried to talk him into letting me go. But Luigi knows I’m here. There’s no way he can do that without paying the consequences. And I understand that.” Tears of frustration filled my eyes, and I stopped for a second to get myself together. “But I can’t go back there, Veda.”
“Can I ask why not? What’s so bad about it at home?” Her tone was genuinely curious, but it shouldn’t have surprised me. In the short time I’d known her, she’d never struck me as anything but down to earth and caring. So, I decided to be straight up with her.
“My father only cares about me in so far as the price he’ll be paid for my innocent body.”
She stared at me for a moment. “But are you? Innocent?”
“No,” I told her. “Not anymore. And therein lies the problem. Because when my father gets me back home, he’ll have his doctor examine me. And when he finds out I’m not a virgin anymore, I’ll no longer have any value to him.” And I honestly had no idea how he would react to that fact.
“How often does he check that?”
“Whenever he feels like there’s a chance somebody’s penis could’ve gotten too close to me.” I shrugged. “So it was a daily experience there for a while. It was the price I had to pay to be able to go to school.”
“Oh, my god. Sera! I’m so sorry.” Reaching across the table, she touched my arm where it rested on the table. “There’s something wrong with your fucking father.”
I looked her dead in the eye and laughed. “There’s something wrong with every man in the mafia. Haven’t you figured that out yet? I can’t imagine Luca is the image of virtue.”
She gave me a look that said I had a point. “No, he’s definitely not. But I think he really loves me. In his way.”
I immediately felt bad for my sharp tone. “I think he does, too,” I told her gently, and I meant it. Anyone with eyes could see how obsessed the man was with her.
A smile lit up her pretty face, and I smiled back. But then my own problems came crashing back. Placing my free hand over hers, I squeezed, my desperation coming through no matter how I tried to hold it in. “Will you help me, Veda? Please?”
She was shaking her head before I even got to the end of my question. “I can’t, Sera. I’m so sorry. I couldn’t betray Luca’s trust like that. Besides,” she added, “I don’t know that there’s anything I could do anyway.”
“I’m not asking you to betray anyone,” I insisted. “I’m just…” I didn’t know what I was asking, exactly. “Could you tell me how to turn off the cameras? Or do you know anything about the schedule of the soldiers outside guarding the house? I’m just asking for a chance,” I pleaded when she kept shaking her head.
Her eyes searched my face. “What about Enzo?”
