“Adri,” she says.
“Don’t.” I hold up a hand. “I can’t right now.”
“Come on, we have to talk about this. You can’t marry him.”
“Luna—”
“No, listen to me.” She folds her legs beneath her and turns toward me. Her eyes are swollen and bloodshot, but the fire behind them is pure Luna. “You can’t marry some random Molloy because Dad made a deal without telling anyone. This isn’t how things work. We’ll get a lawyer. We’ll fight whatever contract there is.”
“Fight what? A mafia blood pact?” I roll my eyes. “There’s no lawyer for this, Luna. No court appeal. No filing a motion for dismissal. This is old world mafia business, with rules that don’t align with the law.”
She sits up straighter and puts a hand on my arm. “Then we run. You, me, and Mom. We can disappear. We have plenty of money, Adri. We can go somewhere they can’t touch us.”
I look at my sister and shake my head. Luna’s always been the dreamer. The one who believes in escape hatches and silver linings and the idea that everything works out if you want it badly enough.
She got the whole rose-colored glasses thing from Mom.
I got the other thing. The thing that tells you when there’s no way out.
“And Dad?” I say in a low voice. “We leave him here with a bullet in his spine with no one to protect him? We leave Zio Vinnie and the rest of his men behind without leadership while the Russians circle like vultures ready to attack?”
She lets out a huff. “That’s not your problem to worry about.”
“It became my problem the second those gunmen opened fire at the gala, Lulu,” I say, using the nickname I gave her.
Luna’s eyes glaze over. She brings her knees to her chest,making herself small the way she always used to when she was scared as a little girl. I used to climb into bed with her during thunderstorms and tell her stories until the lightning stopped.
Little did she know that those thunderstorms wouldn’t come anywhere close to the horrors and monsters she’d learn to fear as an adult.
She was twelve when she figured out what our father really does. I was the one who had to explain it. Not Mom. Not Dad. Me. Because that’s what I do. I smooth out the sharp edges of the truth so no one else gets cut.
I reach over and tuck a strand of hair behind her ear. She leans into my hand, and for as much as she might want to bury her head in the sand, the reality is that we’re grown women with real threats against us. Deadly threats. And we need to face them.
How can I walk away from this contract knowing that every step puts another target on the heads of my family?
“That Molloy guy,” she says after a minute. “Lochlan. He stayed the whole night. Last time I took a walk, I noticed he was gone. But he was here for a long time, longer than he needed to be here.””
“I noticed.”
“He didn’t have to.”
“I’m sure he was just doing what his father told him to do.”
“Maybe.” She’s quiet for a second. “Or maybe not. The way he looked at you, Adri…”
“Don’t go there.”
“I’m just saying?—”
“It doesn’t matter how he looked at me. This is a business arrangement. That’s all it is.”
She cringes at my sharp tone, her eyes wide.
“Sorry.” I sigh. “That’s all it can be.”
Luna reaches for my hand and squeezes hard. I let her, because I need the anchor of comfort as much as she does.
“I hate this,” she whispers.
