Page 1 of Carlo
Chapter 1
Speaking to my daughter through a security camera made as much sense as boxing raindrops. But hell, what else could I do? Helpless people do unhelpful things all the time. So I continued whispering, “Don’t bite your nails. No, don’t.” Caterina continued biting. There wasn’t a damn thing I could do about it.
I sat back in the leather chair and watched Cate’s therapy session. The cameras in my father’s office were video only. His paranoia wouldn’t allow aud io. The same paranoia insisted that every room in the house be live-streamed at all times. I’d hated growing up under constant surveillance. The only thing worse than Big Brother watching was Mafia Father. My one-year marriage with Ben had changed that. Big Ben Verrazano didn’t allow any cameras in his home. Audio or not, it didn’t matter. Nothing he did inside his four walls was suitable for film. He allowed no witnesses to his depravity—not even himself.,
“I should have known I’d find you in here.”
I shrugged at his sigh. It wasn’t a secret. If Cate was having her session, I was standing guard. This latest therapist had come highly recommended by Cate’s doctor. Her background checks, fingerprints, and college transcripts had all been reviewed with a microscopic lens. It didn’t stop me from observing. This was only the tenth session, after all. Maybe by the twentieth… My anxiety was a sure sign that I also needed some help. Except howcould I take it? How could I put my well-being over hers? Hadn’t I failed her enough when I gave her that fucked up nightmare for a father? On planes, they tell you to put the mask over your mouth before you secure the life-saving device over your child’s. Bull Shit. Who does that? I know it makes good sense. I know it’s the right thing to do. But who the fuck could actually do it. Who throws in a life preserver when they see their child drowning? Not me. I’d jump. Every. Time. Shit. I look up at my father. He’d never jump. If I was drowning. Splashing, kicking, screaming, sinking, I’d better find that fucking floating ring and save myself.
I’d intended to spare him only a polite flick of my eyes, but something in his expression stopped my dart away. He looked excited. Hopeful. Al Silvio, head of the Silvio mafia family for the last twenty years, was never hopeful. There’d only been one other time he’d sought me out with that fevered look on his face. My stomach churned as if it knew what was coming before I did. I wedged my fingers under my thighs. Hiding them the way I did as a child. “What’s up?”
“What’s up? More money than God spent on your education, and this is how you greet me. I will tell you what’s up. The sky is up…” He drones on, and I twist my fingers to keep from stealing a glance at the screen. I’ve heard this speech a hundred times. I curse my slip. In Alphonse Silvio’s house, females are to have perfect hair, manners, and grammar. After all, that’s what he pays for—from his housekeepers, his wife, from me. After he finishes his barrage, he takes a deep breath and wipes a hand over his face. I follow the movement. When did his hands get so… old? His face, too? When had time caught up with Al Silvio?
“Take a walk with me.”
My eyes dart to the screens. Dammit. I rise. His words weren’t a question. My father never asks. You do what he says. Period. I’m surprised when he leads me outside. Even more so when he tucks his arm through the crook of mine. Shit. This isserious. He’s left work; that’s clue number one. We stroll silently towards the garden—clue number two. My arm tenses when he leads me to the same bench overlooking the pond that he steered me to on another awful day. A day when he told me I’d be marrying Ben. He’d painted it in colors that rivaled the spring flowers bursting through the ground with as much enthusiasm as his words. It would be good for me. Good for our family. Necessary. I agreed. What choice did I have? I’d been raised to believe that I had none. That this would be my contribution to the family. One small sacrifice compared to the ones he and my brothers made daily.
My hands clench, folding the pleats of my dress open and close. No flowers today. Our feet rest on dead and browning leaves. Leaves that are struggling to retain the last beat of life. Even as the green folds and curls into reds, oranges, and yellows. Unable to resist the demands of death.
He folds his hands over mine. His warmth does nothing to shield my frozen hands from the cold icing my veins. “Valeria, you have been a good daughter. I know that I have not always been the father you deserved. But I have tried. You have fulfilled your duty to the family.”
I pull my hands away. He can’t say this. Not after everything he’s done. I’ve bitten my tongue so many times that it’s scarred. I’ve swallowed the bile rising in my throat for years. But I can’t let him think I’m okay with this. I’ve done my part, yes. But there’s still time to undo it. To get Cate away from here. To save her from this nightmare. “I don’t want to talk about this. Not now.”
“Now is the perfect time, Valeria. Ben has been gone for almost a year. It’s time to move on. I allowed you and Caterina, your mourning period.” His weathered sigh, weighs heavy in the air between us. “Unfortunately, the untimely death has put ourfamily in a dangerous position. The Verrazanos demand justice. Ben was next in line to lead his family. He was… important.”
“He was an asshole.” My father’s eyes narrow but he doesn’t reprimand me. Shit. I’m in even more trouble than I imagined if he’s holding his ire.
“Granted. But still, something could have been worked out.”
“He was never going to let me go.”
“You were his wife.” He shrugs. “Given time, maybe—”
“—he would have killed me. Would that have made it easier for you? Would it have solved our family’s problem?”
His eyes narrow. He uses his silence like a sword. Cutting me down. Cutting me off. I bite my lip and hold my tongue. No one talks to him this way, and his eyes tell me he’s allowed me all the rope he intends to give me today. “As I said, a new problem has arisen. A problem you caused, and you will solve.”
My brows draw together. What can I do? My heart races. Terror is a hawk ripping at my flesh. “Do they want Cate? " I jump to my feet and look around wildly. “They can’t have her. No. You tell them, I said no. Over my dead body…”
“Is that what you want?” He stands. The slow lift mocks my impotent leap. “Because they would very much like to arrange that.” Before I can protest, he adds. “Arrange it for you and Cate.” My eyes are so wide they might roll out of their sockets. I’m holding them in with grit and steel. Holding everything in—my rage, my fear, my powerlessness. “But we have an option. A white knight, you could say. Another family that is willing to stand with us against the Verrazanos.”
“Who?” My mind races through possibilities and probabilities before it realizes that I’ve asked the wrong question. “What do they want?”
“The Falcone family,” he answers the first question, although we both acknowledge it doesn’t matter. The second question flaresand burns before he responds. His voice flat and implacable. His words granite and unyielding. “A marriage. You. With their son.”
The raw sound that breaches my mouth is the hoarse mixture of a wail, a laugh, and a roar. “Hell, no. " I spew, and I don’t give a damn about the consequences. What can he do to me that Ben didn’t? “We tried this once. I did what you asked… for family. There’s no way in hell, I would pay that price again.”
“Valeria—”
“—no. You can’t make me do this. No.”
His eyes flick towards the house and back to me. I can almost hear the gears turning in his head. “Fine. I won’t force you again.” I narrow my eyes because this man knows no other way. “You want to rage and curse like a man? You want to take on my responsibilities? You want to make the tough decisions to protect your family? Fine. Here are your choices. The Verazanos want you resting next to your husband. They want their granddaughter to be raised by them. And when she reaches the marriageable age she will be married to another family so that they can have the family connections you cheated them out of. The Falcones want something I have. They also need family connections. They will accept you into their family. Protect you and Cate for a lifetime. They will pay Verrazano the blood money they won’t accept from me.” His eyes gleam, and I shrink from the fury in them. “You ruined everything. You fucking fix it.”
I blink. Tears stream down my face. “I didn’t know,” I whisper. I’d had no idea what was going on.
He takes a step towards me. His eyes are cold as ice. “That’s the problem with you. You have no idea. You are a child. A petulant child. But enough is enough. I tried to teach you, but you are beyond learning.” He pats my cheek. His touch is warm and clammy. “You have one week to make your decision. Either way, you will serve your family.”
He leaves me standing in the garden. A child. A petulant child. I’m not a child. I’m a mother. A wife. A victim. A survivor. I’m more than that. I’m so much more than the sum of my parts. I will not be a victim again. I will not be a pawn again. I will not be a servant. Not to Al Silvio. Not to the Verrazanos or the Falcone.s I’m done being everyone’s bitch.
