Sofia stiffens.
“But she doesn’t,” Mama continues. “She loves him.”
Her gaze finally shifts to me.
“And you know your sister. Reserved, careful, yet always drawn to stories about men like him.”
A faint, knowing smile touches her lips. “Those books were her guilty pleasure.”
She meets Sofia’s eyes again.
“Now she has one of her own.”
Mama says quietly. “He loves your sister.”
Sofia shakes her head, tears in her eyes. “I don’t like this.”
She inhales. “That’s not conditioning.” Her voice lowers. “That’s a connection. A choice.”
Mama squeezes my hand.
“But don’t let me speak for you, honey. What are you going to do? What do you want to do?”
It’s hard to answer the questions because the truth is, I’m not sure.
"He's different," I admit. "From what I expected. He's... he's trying."
I stop.
There's something else sitting at the edge of everything I haven't said out loud yet. Something that surfaced at dinner last night and hasn't left me since.
"Mama. At dinner, one of Salvatore’s brothers, Matteo, mentioned, casually, like it was nothing, that they launder money through the mayor's office." I watch her face. "Lindsay's father."
Mama goes very still.
Sofia's champagne flute stops halfway to her mouth. “What the fuck is going on with everyone?”
“Watch your mouth Sofia,” mom says.
"Does she know?" Mama asks carefully. "About you? About all of this?"
"She knows I'm engaged to him. She doesn't know everything." I exhale.
The room is quiet for a moment.
"So what are you going to do?" Sofia asks.
I don't have an answer. I'm not sure there is one.
"I don’t know. But, she has to know.”
“What about Salvatore? What are you going to do about him?” my mother asks.
I think..." I take a breath. "I think I might be falling for him. And I don't know what to do about that either."
Mama's expression is complicated.
"The world he lives in," Mama says slowly, "it's not like anything you've known. I ran from it for a reason, Valentina. The violence, the control, the way everything becomes about power and loyalty and blood. It changes people. Sometimes into something monstrous. It could change Salvatore, too."
