Chapter 2
I moved Sofia and Lily into the private study beside the ballroom.
Sofia resisted when I asked the physician to look at her hands.
“I’m fine.”
I stared at her.
“No.”
She looked embarrassed.
That bothered me.
She should have been angry.
Instead she looked like someone apologizing for being noticed.
The physician examined the irritation and bruising, then quietly told me the damage was consistent with repetitive cleaning and prolonged exposure to hot water.
Weeks.
Maybe months.
Exactly as Sofia said.
When he left, I sat across from her.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
Her face closed.
Wrong question.
I heard it as soon as I said it.
Not why did they do this?
Why didn’t you stop them?
Sofia looked down.
“Because every time I tried, Delia told me you already knew.”
My breathing slowed.
“What?”
“She said you were embarrassed.”
“Of you?”
Sofia’s eyes filled.
“Of how I grew up.”
I felt something cold settle into my chest.
Sofia had not come from one of the old Mafia families.
Her father repaired elevators.
Her mother worked in a bakery.
That had never mattered to me.
Apparently Delia had made it matter to her.
“She said the marriage was useful when you were younger, but now that you were head of the organization, people expected something different.”
I stared.
“And you believed I said that?”
“Not at first.”
That hurt more.
“What changed?”
Sofia looked toward the door.
“Marcus.”
Of course.
“He told me the same thing.”
“What exactly?”
“That you didn’t want to embarrass me by saying it yourself.”
My hands curled.
Sofia continued.
“They said if I wanted to keep Lily close to the Montoro family, I needed to prove I understood my place.”
There it was.
Not labor.
Not discipline.
Extortion through belonging.
They had convinced my wife that access to her own daughter’s family depended on obedience.
Then Sofia whispered:
“They said if I made trouble, you’d keep Lily and send me away.”
I stood.
Very slowly.
May you like
My sister had not merely humiliated my wife.
She had used my name to make Sofia believe I would take our daughter from her.
