Page 12 of Silent Night with Massimo

He clenches his jaw and quickly looks away from me.

"I'm sorry," I whisper.

I don't need him to be angry with me over anything else. I'm here to try and resolve things between us – not to make the situation worse than it already is.

"I just want to make things right between us, Massimo," I say.

"How? How do you expect things to ever be ok between us? You were exiled for what you did, Vera. You can never undo that."

"I can - I can prove it wasn't me. Then you can lift the exile. You have that power as leader of this family."

I watch the muscles along his jaw feather. His fists clench and unclench at his side.

"Stay the fuck away from my daughter." He won't look at me, but I don't need to see his eyes to know he means it. Family is everything to Massimo. He will do anything tokeep them safe. I know - because I used to be part of his family. I used to be welcome.

His immovable desire to protect those he loves is what makes him so good as the head of this mafia family. It's what makes this the most powerful family in our city.

It is also what makes it impossible for me to get him to hear me right now.

"Vera." He says, warning me. "I won't say it again. Stay away from my daughter. She is already suffering the tragic loss of her mother. She doesn't need some exiled woman breaking her heart when she disappears as well."

"Disappears?" I whisper in shock. No, he can't make me disappear. I need to make him see the truth.

"Did you look into Elio?" I ask abruptly. Not knowing if this is my last chance to talk to him or not.

"Why are you so hell-bent on blaming my cousin for your treachery?"

"Just stop - for fuck's sake. Just stop and consider that I wouldn't do that to you. For a second - imagine that I am innocent." I beg him.

"I won't give you that grace, Vera. You don't deserve it."

Chapter 6

Massimo

"What about our son?" She says, frustration edging her voice. "What if he really is alive and you are just denying any possibility of that? How will we find him… how will we find the truth?"

"Truth." I breathe out heavily. Fucking truth.

Every time I think I know the truth it slips away from me - changes – moves – morphs.

All I have to focus on now is keeping my family safe while we are all together in this lodge.

I can't be distracted by her stories. Her dreams. Her manipulations.

Maybe exile drove her to madness, and what I'm seeing now are just the ramblings of a woman lost in her own grief.

"Vera, stop. How could someone hide my own son from me for six years?" I snarl, my blood boiling, my heart burning. "He died. We need to accept that. You need to accept that."

"I don't know." She shouts, as upset as I am.

"I can't deal with these stories. You know how dangerous this time of year is, despite the truce between the mafia families. I need to focus on security—on keeping my family safe. We're all here, in one place, and you're asking me to take a massive risk by trusting you. I can't. I can't put everyone at risk like that. My priority is the family."

"Our son is your family." She hisses with accusation.

I turn my back on her, clenching my fists so hard my nails dig into the palm of my hand. I am torn between the anger I feel towards her - and the love that I have tried for years to bury and deny - but keeps threatening to overwhelm me. It isn't real. None of it was real, so the love was never real either.

I have to remind myself of that.

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