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She frowns. “Huh?”
Adelina sighs, sitting down next to Serafina. “She said she wants to chat with us. You’d know this if you bothered to learn sign language.” She takes a dainty bite of her salad.
Serafina rolls her eyes and returns to polishing her nails.
I take that as an invitation and sit down beside them.What are you up to today?
“Just staying here,” Adelina says.
“Like usual,” Serafina adds on, sulking. “God. We never get to do anything fun anymore.” She tosses her nail file onto the table. “Remember when we actually got to leave the house? Now, we’re under lock and key all the damn time because Dario decided he wanted to start a war. Overher.” She levels her eyes at me. “What makes you so special, Pia?”
I shrug, not knowing how to answer that.
Serafina snorts. “Of course, you don’t know. But Dario is sure smitten with you.”
“Yeah, he never takes his eyes off you,” Adelina says, nudging me. “I think he might be in love.”
I shake my head.No. We’ve only been married a little over a week.
“Doesn’t matter. Love can happen in a short amount of time.” A dreamy smile passes Adelina’s lips. “I can’t wait until I’m in love someday. I hope I get to marry a prince. A gentleman who gets me flowers and opens the door for me and treats me like a queen.”
“Keep dreaming,” Serafina says. “There are no gentlemen around here. Not mafia men, anyway.”
Dario is a gentleman,I sign.
“What did you say?” Serafina asks.
“She said that Dario is a gentleman,” Adelina translates.
Serafina looks at me for a moment before busting up laughing. “Dario is a lot of things, but I’ve never heard anyone refer to him as a gentleman. He’s more of an asshole than anything else.”
“Maybe you to you, but to Pia, Dario’s very sweet. I’ve seen it. Our brother is changing. He’s becoming softer. Not as rough around the edges. All thanks to Pia.” Adelina wraps her arm around my shoulders, squeezing. “I’m glad to have you as part of this family.”
Thank you,I sign.
“You’re welcome.”
Serafina sits forward in her chair so fast that it makes me jump. “I have an idea. We should initiate Pia into our family by getting out of here. Let’s have a girls' day out on the town.”
“But that would mean leaving when Dario explicitly said not to do that.”
Serafina waves a dismissive hand. “Whatever. Who cares about Dario’s rules? I say we sneak out and have some fun. It’s the middle of the day. What bad things can happen in the middle of the day? We could go out to eat. Go shopping. Just have a normal day. I’m tired of being cooped up in here.”
Is that smart?I ask.
“No, Pia, it’s not smart,” Adelina says. “My sister is being stupid.”
Serafina narrows her eyes. “Or she’s being adventurous.”
“No, I still say stupid.”
“Whatever.” Serafina turns her calculating eyes onto me. “Don’t you want to see more of the world, Pia? You’ve never gotten that chance. Don’t tell me you’re not at least a little bit tempted?”
She’s right. I am tempted. I want to explore the city. I’ve traded one mansion for another. I know my father is out there looking for me, and it would hurt Dario to go against his orders.
But I also want to live my life for myself and not live in fear anymore.
Serafina reaches over and grabs my hand. “Come on. We’ll all be together. What’s the harm in going out and having some fun? We’ll come right back, and Dario doesn’t even need to know.”
