The sight of the gun in Lucia’s hand does something strange to me.
Lucia left this world. She built another life, married Nick Dixon, became a mother, became something outside the Conti name, or as outside as any of us can ever really be.
And still, there she is.
Dark hair falling over her shoulder, baby against her chest, pistol within reach, eyes calm and hard.
I’m a Conti too.
And before you were, even.
The words replay in my head.
I look at her, and for the first time tonight, I see my older sister instead of a missing sister.
The one who was there before all of us. The one whose absence shaped us, yes, but whose presence still has weight.
She catches me looking.
“What?” she asks quietly.
I shake my head. “Nothing.”
Her mouth tightens like she knows I’m lying, but she lets it go.
Above us, something thuds.
Everyone freezes.
Nick shifts slightly, bringing the gun up.
Lucia pulls the girls closer.
Sofia’s eyes are enormous. “Was that Daddy?”
“No,” Nick says immediately.
He does not know that.
None of us knows that.
But Sofia accepts it because he is her father, and fathers are supposed to know everything.
I grip Vito’s gun tighter.
We can hear sounds outside the door. Upstairs, maybe outside. It’s hard to tell what they are through concrete and reinforced walls.
Teresa’s face is utterly still.
That scares me more than if she were crying.
Her eyes stay on the door.
Come back, I think.All of you. Come back.
The monitors remain black.
I hate them.
