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“She was to be married to Theo, the worst of the two uncles. He had a nasty temper that could blow at any point. Your mother cried through the entire ceremony. I remember her face was so pale, and her hands shook as the rings were exchanged. Theo barely even registered her fear. He was too busy looking at someone else.”
“Do you remember who?”
“I do.” He looked away. “It was Noemi, who is now apparently Elio’s aunt.”
“So, Mama was telling the truth.”
“Indeed. Neither Theo or your mama wanted to marry, but Elenora’s family owed money, and Theo needed a son to take over the family business. If he couldn’t produce one quickly, his father’s younger brother, who was already married, might have one first. It’s like a race to the finish line. Children and money seem to be the major pawns when it comes to our lifestyle. Plus, by the two families joining together, the Coppolas would gain a lot of connections through Elenora’s father’s company, and that’s no small thing. What I mean to say is, your grandparents were extremely connected. They were wealthy in the people they did business with, if not so much in physical money.”
He dropped back down in the chair. “I’ll skip over the rest. Your mama will want to fill you in on that, but things went from bad to worse when you came along. Baby girls are not nearly as valuable as boys. Elenora hit her breaking point and couldn’t take it anymore, so she left. I walked in on Oscar soon after. He was packing his bag, saying he’d chosen a side and he wasn’t coming back. I raced to my room and did the same, then we piled in the back of his car and left. We never looked back. That chapter of my life was over, and I couldn’t’ve been happier.”
“What about your mother?”
“I ran into her at the door. She took one look at my suitcase, looked over my shoulder at the car, and stepped aside to let me pass. She told me to have a better life than she’d had and to be free for both of us.”
“Did you,” I cleared my throat, “find your freedom?” I felt a tear slip down my cheek at how hard that must have been for the mother as well as the son.
“Yeah,” he gave me a sad smile, “anything was better than being there in that house, treated like dirt. But,” he paused, looking me straight in the eye, “me leaving was the ultimate betrayal, so getting you inside that house will take a little roleplaying.”
“I think I can do that.”
“It’s not you I’m worried about. I will need to act like I left to hunt you down, and when I did, I brought you back home. Sienna,” he leaned forward, “you deserve to know who you are and where you come from, but with that comes a level of evil that you haven’t seen yet. You can never let your guard down, never trust anyone, and most of all, don’t let them get in your head.”
“I know what I’m doing.”
“All right.” He let out a long breath. “I really hope so because Elenora will murder me herself when she finds out what we’re about to do.”
“Let me worry about Mama.”
“And your test results came back.” He held up the sealed envelope and handed it to me.
“How? I mean, don’t you need something from him?”
“Yeah,” he let out a long breath, “but it’s not important how I got it. What is, though, is what the paperwork says.”
I nodded and ripped the side of the envelope straight down, pulled out the papers, and peered at the results. As I expected, I was a 99.9 percent match, and no doubt was left. I was Theodore Coppola’s daughter. I held it up to show him, and he smiled, knowing we had all the proof we needed.
“Can I get you another?” A man’s voice pulled me from my thoughts, and I blinked up at him, trying to recall what he said. “Another?” He pointed at my glass.
“Oh, no, thanks.”
“Are you new to the city?” He looked around, making a show of searching for someone. “Because I’m here a lot, and I would remember someone like you.” I wanted to roll my eyes and hoped he’d think I was annoyed and leave, but at the same time, I needed to play off who I was now. Appearances were everything.
“You could say that.” I forced a smile.
“Is there another way I could say it?” Oh, boy, he was flirting, and I was like stone inside.
“You could say I’m back after a very long trip.”
“How long?”
“Mm,” I closed one eye as I thought, “twenty-some years.”
“That’s a long trip.”
“It was.”
“I bet you have a ton of stories.”
