Page 49 of The Marriage Contract

“Uh, good. You?”

“Yeah, we’re good. Except Mafia men are tailing us everywhere we go.”

“That’s just a precaution. They just want to make sure you’re safe. How’s Aunt Rosa?”

“That’s why I’ve been calling. She wants to speak with you.”

“But her therapy and everything, it’s going well?”

“Verywell. These fancy-pants therapists know their stuff. The doctors are much nicer when they realize we can pay any fee they throw at us. Hang on. I’ll take the phone to her.”

“No, wait …”

Giulia doesn’t hear me. Not consciously thinking about it, being on the phone with ordinary people makes me retreat to the other side of the car. Dario says nothing but looks hurt, a glint of pain through his savagery.

“Elena?” Aunt Rosa moans down the phone.

“I’m here,” I tell her.

“Oh, thank God. I thought that man had buried you in the woods.”

Her words make me feel sick. “He’d never do something like that,” I snap, defending him despite the confusion whirring through me. “Don’t even say that. That’s just sick.”

“I thought he’d used you and abused you and covered you with dirt.”

“Aunt Rosa,”I hiss. “Please.”

“Do you think he wouldn’t do something like that? These men, these criminals, they promise the world. They promise the universe, but they’ll never deliver. All they deliver is heartache. You should’ve learned that by now.”

“What does that mean?” I ask, wondering if, somehow, she knows about the kidnapping. But how could she?

“The flames,” she whispers.

“What, the fire? Are you talking about Mom and Dad and Stevey again?” When she doesn’t reply, instead moaning down the phone, I say, “Put Giulia back on.”

“Hey.”

“Is this why she wanted to call me?” I say.

“I guess so. I’m sorry. She’s worried about you. I am, too.”

“Dario wouldn’t do anything even remotely close to that sick shit she just said.”

“Are you sure?” Giulia asks seriously.

“I’m sure,” I sigh.

That probably isn’t the answer I should give, everything considered, but it feels true even if it shouldn’t. I try to stamp down on these feelings like Dario stamped on that man’s head. I try to remember that his father and my aunt will never approve and that I don’t belong in this world. Heck, I’ve probably got freaking PTSD from what I saw. That’s why this panic is tearing through me, butI’m still here.

“Rosa wants to speak with you again,” Giulia says. “Is that okay?”

“I guess I should, just to let her get it out.”

Giulia hands the phone back. “Remember, he’ll promise the world, and it will end in flames.”

“Is there something you want to tell me about the fire?” I ask sharply. “About Mom and Dad and Stevey?”

“What?” she says, sounding shocked as if the question has come from nowhere. “About the … fire?”

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