Page 43 of Corrupted Union

Mom shot me a glare that froze me. “How am I supposed to do anything around here when I can’t even trust you with the babies?” She set Luca in his playpen and snatched Lucia out of my arms. She instantly quieted down when she was in Mom’s arms.

“I’m sorry,” I whispered, pushing back the urge to cry.

“Just go back to your book,” she muttered as she set Lucia in the playpen with Luca.

I started to sit down on the couch again when Mom looked at me. “Somewhere else,” she said, pointedly.

I hurried out of the room and went to my bedroom, where the tears truly began to fall.

“Fran?” Emilia’s voice snaps me back to the present.

I look up from the receipt. “Yeah?”

“We’re home.” She nods at Marco’s huge mansion in front of us. “You looked like you were zoning out.”

“Yeah.” I get out of the car without another word, pushing memories of my mom from my mind.

If she had joined Emilia and me dress shopping, she would have just found a way to make me feel bad about myself. It’s for the best that it was just Emilia and me.

That’s what I keep telling myself, anyways.

CHAPTER10

Francesca

It’s chaos in the foyer as my entire family shows up for the wedding. Family includes all my siblings, my mother, and Franco, as well as Viktor, who came with Gemma.

“Franny,” Mia says, coming over to me. Mom is struggling with Lucia and Luca, who are running around her legs and playing tag. Antonio looks sullen. I thought he’d be happier because his eighteenth birthday is coming up. Cecilia is joined by her bodyguard Theo. He’s the only guard who came with them, it seems. Cecilia can’t keep her eyes off him, but he’s focused on scanning the room, searching for any threat.

Emilia hugs Gemma and nods her welcome toward Viktor. Despite him being married into the family for four years now, Emilia still hasn’t exactly warmed up to Viktor. She doesn’t mess with the men who hurt her sisters; that’s for sure.

Franco stays near the door, looking more annoyed than anything else. I wish he hadn’t come. Staring at him reminds me of him smacking my mom across the face. Now that I know more the abuse Mom endures at his hands, I hate the sight of him.

“Franny, look.” Mia holds out her phone. An image of a concert ticket takes up the photo. “Mom got me tickets to see BTS. Isn’t that great?”

“Who?” I ask her.

She gives me a look only fourteen-year-old girls can give. “Only the best boy band ever.”

“That’s great.” I give her a half hug, but she’s already distracted by a text on her phone as she wanders off.

Cecilia approaches me next. At sixteen, she’s looking more and more mature every day. In a few short years, it’ll be her turn to marry. I wonder if she’ll handle it better than me. My eyes flit to the cross around her neck. I think Cecilia will take marriage more seriously than any one of us. “Francesca,” she greets. “How have you been? You’ve been gone just over a week, and you’re already getting married. That’s amazing.”

“Thanks. It happened so fast, but—”

She turns away from me, grabbing her suitcase. “I’m going to head to my room. Ok?” She looks at Marco, who’s staying in the living room archway, out of the way of all my siblings. Smart man. “I can choose any room, right?”

“Of course. Just not mine or Emilia’s room. Or Francesca’s.”

“Great.” She turns to Theo. “Help me carry my bags up?”

He nods and, without a word, grabs her bag, his muscular arms bulging as he walks up the stairs. Cecilia looks like she might faint as she follows him.

“Stop, you two,” Mom hisses at Lucia and Luca, who are now hitting each other. “Behave.”

“I got it,” Emilia says, walking over to the twins. “Do you two want some ice cream?”

“Yeah!” they exclaim. Emilia smiles and shakes her head as she takes them out of the foyer and toward the kitchen.

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