Chapter 9

Tiziano

When Bruno dragged Soraya toward the dungeon, something cold settled in my gut. I took a step after them.

Rosalinda threw her arms around my waist from behind.

"Don't go. The capos are still in the house, Tiziano. I'm scared. Stay with me tonight." Her body pressed against my back. "Just this once. You can't even give me that?"

I stood there a long time. Then I let out a breath, turned, and put my arms around her.

I sat up with her until dawn, and nobody came to tell me anything.

By sunset the next day, there was still no word from the dungeon. I told myself that was a good sign. Soraya was sulking. She'd come up when she was ready.

I was on the sofa in Rosalinda's sitting room, going over the damage reports, with her curled against my side, when Cesare started to scream.

Not cry. Scream. High, frantic, endless. Without meaning to, my hand clamped down on Rosalinda's shoulder.

She winced, then put on that wounded look she does so well. "Tiziano, you're hurting me."

I barely heard her. "Why is he crying like that?"

She glanced at the bassinet, and her lip curled. "He always cries. Dario's a handful, too. They must get their bad temper from Soraya."

"Don't." It came out harder than I meant. "Do you know what she goes through to have them? She gave you her children. You don't get to talk about her like that. If he's not happy with you, give him back to Soraya. You already have Dario."

I almost never spoke to Rosalinda that way. Her face changed, and she snatched the baby up and held him tight.

"I was just venting. I love them like my own. I'd never neglect them."

But the more she jiggled him, the harder Cesare screamed, like he was doing it on purpose.

My heart was pounding, and I didn't know why. People say a baby can feel it when something happens to his mother. If Cesare was crying like this... had something happened to Soraya?

Once the thought took root, it crawled under my skin.

"I have to check on her."

I'd taken one step when Rosalinda grabbed my sleeve. "Don't!"

She took a breath, and then it all came out.

"I'll be honest with you. I only married Alfonso for the title. I'm not spending the rest of my life nursing a dying man. I'll end it with him. You divorce Soraya. We put everything back the way it was supposed to be. I'm the one who was meant to stand beside you."

"That's insane." I shook her off.

She stumbled back, stunned. The hurt on her face pulled at me, the way it always had, but I kept my voice cold.

"Don't ever say that to me again. Things are the way they are. This is the best ending any of us gets."

I married Soraya because of a scheme. At first, I didn't love her. Honestly, her devotion when we were young used to annoy me: the way she followed me everywhere, the way she looked at me like I'd hung the moon.

But after eight years, I'd gotten used to her. Her voice in the next room. Her hair on my pillow. The idea of losing her tore something open in my chest.

Lately, though, she'd gone cold. The girl who used to look at me like I was her whole world had disappeared.

She was just angry, I told myself. If I went down there, held her, promised she could raise Cesare herself, she'd soften. She'd forgive me. She always did.

Ignoring Rosalinda's cries behind me, I headed for the dungeon. But I stopped short in the living room.

My grandmother was already there. Aurelio knelt on the floor beside her, his shoulders shaking with silent sobs.

A cold dread crawled up my spine. I pushed it down and forced a smile.

"Nonna, what are you doing here? Soraya just broke the rules and took a little punishment. She didn't need to come crying to you. Where is she? Did she go back to her room to rest?"

Concetta stared at me, her eyes cold.

My smile slipped.

"So she gets a slap on the wrist and runs to you to stir up trouble?" I said. "It was just a light discipline."

Concetta let out a cold, bitter scoff.

"Don't treat me like a senile old woman! Rosalinda is the one who caused this disaster! You know it perfectly well, yet you blindly protect her and force Soraya to suffer for it all!"

I swallowed my rising irritation.

"Whatever stories Soraya spun for you, I'll deal with it. I'll go find her later and teach her a proper lesson."

Concetta closed her eyes. When she spoke, her voice cracked with a choked sob.

"You won't be teaching her anything anymore."

"She's dead."