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I remember a time when my mother was kind. I remember a time when vengeance didn't fuel her fire. She was a go-between among me and my siblings at the time. But since my father and brother's deaths, coldness settled into her bones like an iceberg. I very rarely see any of the kindness I remember in her.
Some people are wounded by what happens to them. Some are able to rise from the ashes. And some are fully submerged in the depths of Hell with a need for vengeance. That's my mother.
Eden quietly draws closer to me.
"And who do we have here?” There's a coldness in my mother’s voice I feel in my veins and wish I could shield Eden from. But if we are going to outlast everything and stay together, she needs to handle my mother.
"This is Eden." That's all I say. I don't know how to describe her.
She isn't my girlfriend. She isn't my betrothed. She's more than that.
love. I know I’m not worthy of someone like her.
I never expected it to find me like this.
It fucking terrifies me.
I can't shield her from everything. I know I can't. The footage of the truck coming at me and Mario plays over and over and over in my mind.
But goddamn it, I might die trying.
* * *
CHAPTEREIGHTEEN
Eden
"Nice to meet you, Eden."The man that shakes my hand looks a lot like Sergio but a little older, with hair graying at the temples. They have the same broad shoulders, the same piercing eyes and rugged masculinity written in their features.
There’s a difference, though. Sergio looks as if he wants to take on the world. This man looks a little defeated by it.
"My name is Ricco."
Ricco. Oh.
Marialena told me about Cousin Ricco, Sergio's older brother whose wife is sick.
What do you say to someone whose wife is actively dying?
"Very pleased to meet you," I say honestly. "I've heard so many good things about you."
Ugh, how trite.
I don't know how to tell him I'm sorry, that it isn’t fair that you have to watch someone you love hurt and dying… but it is true that I’ve heard so many good things about him. Marialena’s told me how heartbreaking it is seeing him carry her to her chemo appointments, how he braids her hair when she goes to bed at night because she sweats in her sleep, and it gets all tangled. She's told me how Sergio has taken on Ricco’s job so that Ricco could be home caring for his wife and baby.
So while my words may be rote, I mean them.
He gives Sergio a sharp look and smirks. "Wish I could say the same."
I feel my eyes widen as I stare, speechless, at Sergio.
“What did you tell him about me?” I say, which makes Ricco laugh.
“Oh, nothing. That’s the problem and the sum total of it… nothing.”
Oops. So it seems that Sergio has kept me a secret.
Okay, so I actually like that.
