Page 31 of Queen's Move

“You are spoiled, child.”

She was angry with his assertion. She was far from spoiled. She’d worked hard her whole life despite never-ending health struggles. She even managed a lucrative forgery setup. She opened her mouth to tell him off, but he stopped her.

“I don’t mean you don’t have work ethic. I’ve seen transcripts of your grades and heard about your dedication to martial arts. No, I mean you’ve been spoiled with love. With an adoptive family that loves you and gave you the best world they were capable of. A child that is content, happy, spoiled, is one that has trouble seeing the world beyond their bubble. You lack compassion for the woman who has given you life and did her best to make that life a good one, despite the pain it caused her.”

Raina was speechless. Was she spoiled? Did he have a point? She’d been searching for her mother for years. Telling herself that she wanted to confront the woman who abandoned her. Now it seemed she needed to adjust her worldview.

Sotza stood, placed his hand on her hair for a second as though sympathizing with her confusion. Raina looked up at him when he spoke again. “You were young when your body began to fail, too young to question where the money came from for your medical bills. But now you are grown, and from what I can see, not entirely stupid. Would a mother who abandoned her child, a mother that didn’t love her child, spend nineteen years watching over her?”

Raina sat in stunned silence as Sotza walked from the room, leaving her alone with her confused state of mind.

Chapter Twenty-Four

It took another day before Raina worked up the courage to visit her mother. She’d spent that time turning every tiny detail she knew about Elvira over and over in her mind, until she finally came to the conclusion that she needed to just go see the woman. Decide for herself if Elvira was cold and unapproachable or the caring mother Sotza wanted her to believe she was.

She went to his office and told Sotza she was ready. He’d nodded briefly and sent her upstairs with one of his men. The guy had silently unlocked the door and waved her inside. Raina took a steadying breath and stepped through the door. Her eyes went immediately to the petite blond woman staring out the window. Elvira didn’t turn around, giving Raina the advantage of being able to study her for a moment. Elvira’s hair was shorter and straighter than Raina’s, but otherwise they were probably the same height and weight. Even the way Elvira held her body, stiff, shoulders back, head tilted, was familiar.

“What do you want?” Elvira said coldly, her voice husky.

Raina was shocked until she realized her mother probably thought she was Sotza. “I can leave if you want,” she said tentatively.

Elvira spun around so fast she stumbled and had to reach behind herself to grab the windowsill for balance. Raina’s heart thumped painfully and she could feel her face heating. She felt ill-prepared for this meeting and part of her wanted to rush out of the room. But she’d come, and she was going to stay, for a little while at least. Dig up the truth of Sotza’s words.

Her mother was a stunningly beautiful woman. Raina had never thought of herself as particularly good-looking. But now, staring into features that were so similar, so arrestingly lovely, she began to feel some pride in sharing facial features with such a beautiful woman. Without thought, she lifted a hand to her own face, touching her cheek for a second. Elvira had the same face shape, same wide blue eyes, same bow-shaped mouth with the fuller bottom lip.

“Raina,” she said, taking a few steps toward her daughter.

It was clear from the look on her face that she was not the cool, calculating woman Raina had thought she was. Or at least not when it came to her daughter. Her striking blue eyes were filling with tears and she was shaking with emotion, her breaths coming out in quick, uneven gasps.

Raina felt the wetness in her eyes. There were so many things she wanted to know, wanted to ask. She still felt the same old hurt, but it was softened by the love shining bright and clear in Elvira’s face.

Before Raina could speak, Elvira took another step forward and said in a shaking voice, “Please, sit down. I’m sure you have a thousand questions for me.”

Raina nodded and took a few steps into the room, her eyes darting around. She decided to sit in the chair. She wasn’t ready to get too close to her birth mother. Elvira sat down on the end of the bed, facing Raina. She twisted her hands together, her eyes devouring Raina from head to foot. Raina was doing the same thing. She wanted to see and know everything about Elvira Montana. But she couldn’t seem to find her voice.

Elvira’s gaze softened. “You must be wondering why.” Her voice wavered as she struggled with tears. “Why I gave you up, how you ended up here, in this place.”

Raina nodded. She wanted to know all those things, but mostly, she wanted Elvira to keep speaking in her lovely husky voice. She wanted to listen to this woman who gave birth to her, memorize everything about her. Then she felt a sharp stab of guilt, pain as she thought of her adoptive parents. People that she loved unreservedly, but that she hadn’t really thought of much since arriving, except a gnawing worry over how they must be feeling with Raina missing.

“I was barely a child myself when I found out I was pregnant. Younger than you are now,” Elvira said, her eyes darkening. “But if that had been the only complication, I would have kept you in a heartbeat. I would have made my way as a single mother.”

“Then why?” Raina asked, swiping at tears.

Elvira seemed to struggle with her words. Finally, she said, her voice hardening, “I belong to the mafia, Raina. My parents were mafia, I’m mafia – it’s my whole life. It’s not a proper life for anyone, especially a child, a girl. I didn’t want that for you and that would’ve been the outcome if I’d kept you. I had to make a choice, a hard one.”

Raina turned the words over, struggling to reconcile the way she felt about this woman for her entire life and the reality. As Elvira spoke, Raina’s resentment ebbed. Raina had never imagined what it might be like to become involved in the mafia, had no real understanding of the brutality that must be involved. She’d been too sheltered. Of course, she knew the mafia existed. Had seen documentaries and the news. But that was a life that never touched her. Until now. These last couple of weeks, being here, with hard men who wore guns and used violence to get their point across. She kind of got it.

“I wanted better for you,” Elvira continued, her voice stronger now. “I would have done anything to ensure your future was different from mine.”

“But why didn’t you just come with me, why not just take me and disappear?” Raina asked.

Elvira opened her mouth to answer, then closed it and shook her head. She looked like she was struggling to find the right words. Finally, she said, “It was too dangerous, Raina. You have to understand, once a person is in the mafia, especially deep, like I was… like I am, it becomes impossible to leave. There really isn’t any place to just disappear that they won’t find you.”

Raina didn’t like the answer, but she was beginning to understand. She took a deep breath and asked, “Can you tell me more? Tell me what it was like for you?”

Elvira nodded and settled onto the bed, relaxing slightly. “Some parts of it were amazing. I can’t find fault with the money, the jewels and clothes. It wasn’t worth the bullshit that came with it, men treating me like a commodity, but those other things were always a nice perk.”

Raina’s lips twitched and she felt herself beginning to smile despite the intense moment. She’d discovered she also enjoyed the freedom money could buy, had found her own little piece of the underworld to achieve that financial freedom. “How did you meet our lovely host?” she asked, beginning to form her own conclusion. She’d definitely guessed at Sotza’s shadiness, but now that she knew her mother was mafia, she pretty much figured Sotza would be the same.

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