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I sniffle.
Vinny is a little bitch. He isn’t some lovesick man who took the woman he loves. No, he did it because he’d lost control over her. Since my father taught me to trust few, I’m not sure if I believe Antonio when he said he doesn’t know where Natalia is.
Would he actually turn on his brother?
A wave of nausea washes through me when my phone rings.
My father’s name flashes on the screen.
He said he’d call when he had another update, so this call is either bad or good.
Please be good. Please be good.
Bruno stops his pacing.
Aunt Aida slides closer to me.
“Tell me you found her,” is how I answer.
“Natalia is home safe,” he replies.
“And Vinny?”
“I know nothing regarding Vinny.”
Vinny is dead.
Good riddance.
Four nights later, I’m jolted awake by a sound on the terrace.
I throw off my duvet cover, slide out of bed, and grab the gun Bruno gave me earlier,just in case. Everyone is on edge now. Bruno no longer helps Felice in the fields. My father banned me from leaving the cottage. Even though I’m not in New York, I’m still on lockdown.
I should call Bruno about the noise and have him come over to investigate. But I don’t because, quite simply, I’m stupid. I hope it’s Antonio, sneaking to see me—notkill me, obviously.
Stepping out, I meet the coolness of the night while clutching the gun.
A silhouette occupies the spot where Antonio stood during his first visit. I aim the gun in that direction, trying to recognize the person stepping forward.
A whiff of cigarettes hits me.
He doesn’t smell like Antonio.
And as he comes closer, it’s clear he isn’t.
A scrawny man raises his hands above his head in innocence while holding a box between them. “My cousin Antonio asked me to give you this,” he says slowly in an Italian accent.
I retreat a step and raise my gun as he offers me the box. “Open it.”
“What?” he stutters.
I gesture toward it with my gun. “Open it.”
An endless number of potential threats exists inside that box.
A bomb.
Anthrax.
