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I nod. “I’ll be waiting.” I watch as he goes back the same way he just came. I know better than to give him ammunition, and as usual, what Papa says goes.
“Hey, can I come?” Poppy asks, sliding out of the floaty tube and pushing herself back to the surface of the water.
“Sure, but we will need to go shopping again.”
Before Poppy can even interrupt and ask if she can get a job or work around the house, my mom walks down the outside stairs, carrying a bottle of water. I watch as her long silk gown trails with the wind. My mama is beautiful. Papa knew exactly what he was doing the day he laid eyes on her.
“Hey, girls, make sure you use SPF fifty.” She lowers herself down onto the cobble path, dipping her French manicured foot into the water. She inhales, leaning her face up to the sun. Mama has golden skin that darkens through the year and bright blue eyes. Her soft wavy brown hair is always glossy, and her face doesn’t have a single wrinkle. She’s only thirty-four but somehow still manages to look twenty-four.
“What’s the matter, baby?” she asks, and I realize she’s looking right at me, pushing the water around her feet while gawking between Poppy and me. “Rubs?”
I smile widely at her. “Nothing, Mama.” Nothing but the fact that you deserve the world, and I don’t mean the one we’re currently living in.
“Oh!” Ma says, pushing up from the ground until she’s standing straight. “Your cousins are coming in from Sicily.”
Oh no.
“They’re already here but won’t get to the house until we’re home from the event tonight. Make sure they don’t trash the house, will you?” She starts rambling off in Arabic as she waltzes back into the house.
“Your cousins?” Poppy asks, and I slip from the blow-up bed and sink into the water.
“You don’t even want to know.”
“Oh… but I do!”
I splash water on her and throw a towel onto her lap. “Get out of the pool. Let’s go spend Papa’s money.”
I dump all of our shopping bags onto my bed, tossing my sunglasses down with them. Thankfully, Poppy is easy to shop with. She takes what she likes and doesn’t mess around.
She sighs, falling onto the chair near my patio door. “It doesn’t make sense why your dad would take us in.” She isn’t wrong. I know more than anyone just how unforgiving my father is. The fact that he brought both of them home that night? It isn’t from his kindness. That much I know.
“I’m sorry, I don’t know anything.”
“What’s it like?” she asks, unzipping the gown cover and running her hand over the blue silk. “To be the daughter of the Sicilian mafia?”
“Honestly…” I make my way into my closet to bury my face. “I’ve not known any other way.” There’s a knock on the door before it’s being swung open and one of my father’s foot soldiers is standing on the other side.
“We’re leaving in four hours.”
I stare back at him until he closes my bedroom door again. Grabbing my phone, I dial glam so they can start on both Poppy and me. Fifteen minutes later, Giana and Ria are walking through my door, makeup trolleys in tow with hairdryers and straighteners.
I tell them to start on Poppy first so I can quickly wash up and slip into a silk gown. Poppy is telling them a story about her brother, with both Giana and Ria fully immersed, when I glide my hand over the blank wall beside my bed. Poppy stops talking every now and then to see what I’m doing, but Giana and Ria urge her to continue.
“Come on, girl. We need more juice! So this brother. He’s a bit of a player?” I knock on the wall, until I find the hard sound.
“No, he’s not really. But he did sleep around with girls older than him.”
I push my palm down on the wall and it pops open, revealing the discreet door.
“Wow!” Poppy jumps up from the bed, coming up behind me. “What—” I flick the light on and my collection lights up like the Fourth of July.
“Papa had been collecting them for me until I was old enough to start my own.” My fingers wrap around the Beretta. Hitting the light back off, I shut the door and hike my leg up on my bedside drawers, strapping it to the holster around my thigh.
Poppy’s eyes widen. “Why would you need that at a charity gala?”
My eyes shift to Giana, who pats her on the shoulder. “Come on, girl. You are done.” I sit still as they work on me. I go for straight hair and dark makeup. My plan was to offset the sunshine yellow of my gown, but now I’m thinking it probably just looks like I chose the wrong dress. Giana and Ria are quiet as they prep me. They always are. They’ve been doing Mama since she was young, and now me. Other families use them too, but we are always priority.
After they’ve left, I scoop up my Chanel clutch and smile at Poppy. “You look beautiful. You ready?”
