Page 12 of The Strength Of A Woman

I lean harder into the windowsill as I pull farther back, afraid that one of them might take a little step around the corner, look up, and get a glimpse of me.

All those efforts to keep everything hush-hush.

And now all this excruciating pride is beaming in Flavia’s voice.

Who is Flavia in this family to talk to someone’s Consigliere? And who the fuck is that person? It must be someone big. Important. A Boss. Who is it?

Only a mafia boss is entitled to a Consigliere.

And what business does a Consigliere, who is a high-level advisor, have talking to someone like my aunt?

Oh, please make it make sense.

My mouth fills with bile, and I’m about to puke.

Pressing a hand to my stomach, I try to stop myself from hyperventilating.

Good luck with that.

Giorgio comments about something else, and I can’t make out a word of what he’s saying as a bad sensation takes over me.

The room spins with me, and I’m about to push out my lunch when a realization sidles up to me.

This must have to do with me again.

I don’t know what makes me say that. I make no sense. There is no proof, but my body never lies. My gut tells me that I’m right. Something is in the making.

Something horrid and wrong.

Before long, their voices get lost in the background of a quiet afternoon while I try to gather myself and think clearly for a second.

I fail miserably, and listening to my instincts, I spin around and go search for my phone.

3

LEILANI

“Something happened?”Nona asks as soon as she sneaks into my room.

One hand planted on my hip, the other running stiff through my hair, I try to make sense of what I had just heard.

My brain shuffles through a bunch of useless clues.

But it’s not all useless, is it?

The biggest clue of all is my aunt's involvement in this.

Why?

Never in my life have we had a female member of this family talk to a high-ranking member in a crime family.

Women have always played a certain role, and I’m about to find out what that role precisely is, but talking to a Consigliere?

No. No one has time for that.

So, Flavia’s presence here and her extensive conversations with her father must mean something.

She plays a role in it, which brings me to clue number two.