Page 144 of My Mafia Queen

She answers right away.

“You weren’t sleeping…” I say quietly.

“I can’t. How about you?”

“No way. How are things with you?” I ask.

She sounds like she has cried.

“I’m good. Safe.”

She tries to smile, I guess, but only tension comes from her voice.

“Have you noticed anything unusual lately?”

She stays quiet.

“Edith?”

“No. No…” she says softly. “Sorry. I was thinking about it.”

A few moments pass as I wait for her to speak again.

“There is nothing,” she says. “Nothing has caught my eye. Everything was fine. We did our thing. It was nice to have Jen with us. She helped me around the house, and Tina was so happy with our arrangement.”

Her voice reflects contentment as she recollects the time they’ve spent together.

“Tina was talking about you a lot… She even said that one day, she’d have a place like mine and live with you. Or maybe we’d all live together. The kind of stuff a twelve-year-old comes up with.”

She’s right.

Although, this is not something my sister would simply come up with. To her, this is serious stuff.

She’s dreamed about having a nice safe place to live all her life. No wonder she loves to spend time with Jen and my aunt.

“We’ll have that place one day. I’m sure of that.”

She says nothing.

“All right. I’ll let you go now,” I say. “Call me if you have any news.”

“Yeah… I will.”

We’re about to end our conversation when she speaks again.

“Oh. Who is that man, by the way?” she asks. “The one helping you?”

Oh, the man. I’ve never told her about Damaso. Who he was and what he was doing for a living.

I still can’t tell her that.

“He’s my boss,” I say curtly.

“That’s it?”

“Yes.”

I pause.

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