She’s pale faced with wide eyes and fear carved deep into her features.
It’s sad to know how changed I’ve become since leaving Sicily. How far I’ve fallen from the once confident and bright-eyed woman I once knew.
My hands are clumsy and tremble as I jam the key into the lock. I shove the door open and practically fall into the narrow entryway at the foot of the stairwell.
The smell is musty from the smudged walls. The scent of it mingling with old paint hits me all at once in an overwhelming stench.
I swing the door shut behind me and twist the lock back into place with a violent snap, my chest heaving.
For half a heartbeat, I feel safe once more.
But then I look through the glass.
Out on the curb, the SUV idles. The back passenger door opens slowly like whoever is inside knows I’m watching.
A man steps out in a black tailored suit and polished shoes.
He’s tall, looking utterly out of place on this rain-soaked Brooklyn street.
I can’t see his face clearly from the way he’s turned from the building to face the car, but I don’t need to.
Not when his hand comes up to rest on the side of the door and a flash of gold on his pinky catches the grey lighting.
I don’t need to see it up close to know what’s engraved there. I know it’s a serpent coiled in on itself, twisting in a figure-8.
My blood turns to ice.
The man reaches into his coat pocket and pulls out a phone.
When he lifts it to his ear, I realize I’ve been holding my breath long enough to make me feel dizzy.
His words are lost to the rain and the glass between us, his breath fogging faintly in the cold air in short, clipped bursts.
For a long, suspended moment, I’m certain this is the part where everything goes to shit. But to my surprise, he doesn’t try to approach the door or even attempt to come for me.
Instead, he shakes his head once then folds himself back into the SUV.
The door slams hard enough that the entire vehicle rocks from the impact.
The engine revs, tires screeching on the wet street as it pulls away from the curb and disappears back down the block.
I just stand there in disbelief, blinking a few times to clear my vision.
Had I been wrong? Were they not following me like I thought?
Relief hits me all at once, so sudden and overwhelming that my knees nearly give out.
It forces me to sag back against the wall next to the door before I fall as my body starts to shake.
“Mama?” Luca lifts his head from my shoulder, brow furrowed. “Who was that?”
“No one,Amore,” I say automatically, pressing a kiss to his forehead. My lips linger there longer than usual, soaking in his warmth to ground myself.
The lie tastes bitter on my tongue, but he accepts it easily, settling back against me with a tired sigh.
I turn away from the door when I finally can move my legs and start up the stairs, each step heavier than the last.
The years of hiding, the lies I’ve had to tell myself and other people over and over, all nearly collapsed into one horrifying moment down there.
