I should feel something. Disgust. Satisfaction. Guilt. Anything.
But there's nothing.
Just emptiness where emotion should be.
Antonella
I haven't slept.
Bruno left my room like I'd slapped him. One kiss on the cheek and he practically fled. The door closed behind him and I sat there in the dark, trying to understand what just happened.
But I do understand.
That's the thing.
He can't control himself around me. Can't control whatever he feels when I touch him. And that terrifies him more than any enemy ever could.
I pull my knees to my chest and stare at the wall.
Bruno Sartori is not kind. He's cold and distant and sometimes cruel. He issues orders like I'm one of his men.
None of that bothers me.
Every person has their darkness. Their broken pieces. The parts they hide from the world because showing them feels like bleeding in shark-infested waters.
My father gambles. My mother worked herself to death caring for everyone else. Claudio runs from responsibility. Gianna pretends problems don't exist if she ignores them hard enough.
We're all damaged.
Bruno is just more honest about it.
A knock at my door pulls me from my thoughts.
"Come in."
Giulia enters with a breakfast tray. Steam rises from a cup of coffee. The smell of fresh bread fills the room.
"You didn't come down for breakfast," she says. "I thought you might be hungry."
"Thank you."
She sets the tray on the small table by the window. Pours cream into my coffee without asking. She's learned how I take it.
"Did you sleep?" she asks.
"No."
Giulia nods like she expected that answer. She sits in the chair across from me. Folds her hands in her lap.
We've talked a lot these past few days. While Bruno avoided me. While I wandered the compound trying to find my place in this strange new world.
Giulia knows everything.
She's been with this family for decades. Watched the children grow. Buried the dead. Kept the secrets.
"He left in the middle of the night," I say. "Pietro called about something."
"The warehouse situation." Giulia's expression doesn't change. "There was an incident with one of their shipments."
