I watch him disappear into the crowd, fury pulsing in my veins. People ask if he’s all right, as if he’s the victim. The crowd parts as if I’m the monster and I’ll probably be all over social media by the end of the day. A slap on the wrist from the agency. I’m a shadow undercover. The angel of death. But today I lost control.
If he’s right, if she’s gone to her brother, then I know exactly where I need to go.
And God help anyone who stands in my way.
34
ROSE
Iwalk through the halls of my family home, the air cool this time of night, my body tired from the last twenty-four hours. “Angelos?”
“In here,” he shouts, the sound coming from my father’s old office.
I push the heavy door open and suck in a breath as Angelos holds a gun in his hand, my brother showing him how to use it. “Angelos, put that down.” My pulse hammers in my throat. This is exactly why I changed my name and left this world behind. I didn’t want him ever to know what it felt like to hold a gun in his hand.
“Relax, sorella. It’s not loaded.” He opens his palm, showing me the bullets.
I step into the room. “I don’t care. He shouldn’t be handling guns.”
Elio takes it from Angelos with a roll of his eyes and places it in a holster in the back of his trousers.
“You carry that thing around with you?”
His eyes flick to mine. “You can never be too careful. Maybe Papa would still be alive if he’d carried a gun at all times.”
I scratch at my neck, my skin prickling with uncertainty. “Come on Angelos. Come and say goodnight to Nonna.”
“Can we still go clay pigeon shooting, Uncle?” Angelos looks between me and Elio.
Elio waves a hand in my direction. “Up to your mamma, ragazzo.”
I narrow my eyes at him. I’m sick of being the bad mum all the time at having to say no. Our relationship is strained enough, with Magnus looming over us like a bad smell. “I’ll deal with you later,” I say as I close the door and follow Angelos down the hall.
He looks up at the ornate mouldings on the wall as if taking in the grandeur for the first time. The house still contains most of its original features. The last time he was here, he was too young to remember it.
We walk into Mamma’s room now she’s out of the hospital. I’ve been with her most of the evening while Angelos was with Elio. He needed the space with the tension high between us and him blaming me and Dan for uprooting him this time, and I still haven’t found the courage to tell him the truth.
“Night, Nonna.” Angelos kisses my mother on the cheek.
“Buonanotte ometto.” She lifts the oxygen mask back over nose.
I run my hand through Angelos’ thick brown hair. “I’ll come and tuck you in soon. Clean your teeth and get your pyjamas on. It’s really late.”
He runs out of the room with a spring in his step, as if he’s treating this as a holiday. It’s been a long time since we visited here, too many memories in this house to make it feel like home. A shiver shakes my limbs and I pull my cardigan over my chest. “I don’t know how you can live here after everything that happened. This place still gives me the creeps.”
Mamma pulls her mask down again. “This was my parents’ home before your father tainted it. I was born here and I’ll die here. No man or ghost is going to drive me out of my home.”
I give Mamma a smile. I admire her strength. If only her body matched her strong will. “Is there anything you need before I go to bed?”
“My book.” She points to the shelf behind me.
I run my fingers along the spines, a smile playing on my lips as I remember sneaking into the library as a child to read my mother’s romance collection. “Here you go.” I guess it’s why my mother chose this room as her new bedroom when she could no longer get upstairs. I lift out my old copy ofRomeo and Julietfrom the adjacent shelf. The pages are more tattered than I remember.
Her frail fingers slip around my arm. “I’m glad you’re here, la mia bella rosa.”
“Me too, Mamma.”
“Try not to worry about the Bianchi boy.”
