No. He killed our father because he was obsessed with Lina, because he wanted her for himself. It was purely selfish. I’d bet anything if Frank Baldi had already raped Lina, Tino wouldn’t have lifted a hand and would have found another virgin object—because that was what we were to him, objects—to obsess with and have all to himself.
Then why did he save you, too? Why did he wait for your sister to grow up? He’s a sick monster. He could have just killed you, too, and took Lina. Why did he give you shelter and the best education in the country? Why did he take a fucking bullet for your sister? Why couldn’t he kill his own son when he should have?
“Nicky, you still there?” Lina asked, yanking me out of my spiraling.
“Yeah. I just…” Maybe it was time I let go of Tino Bellomo, too, and saw beyond the black and white. Maybe I—
A distant, muffled sound came from the basement. What the fuck. “Hold on a sec.”
I tiptoed down the last step to the basement and turned toward the blue room. It was the only room down here apart from the laundry room—which would be empty that late at night—and an unused storage I was going to clear and extend outside to become a greenhouse.
Bang! Bang! Groan!
I flinched as I approached the thick door, assuming the worst. Could Dom be here? With someone else?
“You okay, Sis? You’re panting,” Lina said.
I stood frozen by the door, not knowing how I could prepare myself for that kind of pain.
“Dom wouldn’t do this to me, right?”
“What? What wouldn’t he do?”
Cheat on me.It wouldn’t make any sense. Not after what I’d given him. But what if all I had to give wasn’t enough? What if he was in there with a man because his uncle put a need in him so deep no matter what I did I couldn’t satisfy?
“Nicky, please tell me what’s going on? Are you okay?”
I leapt out of my freezing and banged the door. “Open up.”
When he didn’t, I pasted my ear on the door and listened.
“For God’s sake, Nicky, answer me. Is there someone in the house?” Lina panicked.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
I flinched again. This time because the sound wasn’t coming from the blue room.
“Nicky!”
“I…I’m here. There’s a weird noise in the basement.” I spun and inspected the area, listening for the source. Then I entered the laundry room, which was empty. “It seems to be coming from the walls.”
“The walls? You mean like pipes?”
I went back to the blue room and headed down the hall where the storage was. The only place I hadn’t checked yet. “I don’t think so.”
“Where is Dom?”
“I’m not sure.”
“Nicky, listen to me. Get out of there. Don’t do any more checking on your own and go find the guards.”
The seriousness of the fear in her voice triggered mine. My hand froze on the storage door handle, my breath and heartbeat rapid. “Okay. Maybe I should call Dom, too.”
“Okay, but call me back right away, and go find those guards.”
I hung up, cold sweat trickling down my temples. I tapped Dom’s number on the screen as I moved away from the storage door.
Groan!
