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She clearly wasn’t ready to talk about what happened, so I skirted my real concern.
“Chiara, people breaking in is terrifying. If you ever want to talk about any of it, I’m here for you. Okay? Or if you want to talk about it in private to someone, I’ll find someone you can talk to.”
She didn’t reply.
I went over to her and knelt to put my hand on her shoulder.
“Chiara, you hear me? You’re not alone. I’m here with you, whatever you need.”
Her shoulder was trembling under my hand. She was quiet. “You should go,” she said.
I nodded. I couldn’t force her to talk, and if she needed space, then I knew I had to give it to her.
“Just text me whenever you need,” I said, giving her my number.
I went to the door.
She said hastily, “You can’t tell Mom any of this. Or my brothers. Especially Marco. Don’t you dare tell him.”
“I won’t,” I promised, another little bit of my heart breaking. Another secret I had to keep from him. “But maybe you should?”
“No! I mean it,” she said in a hard voice. “He’ll go mad. Like he did about Dad. You can’t tell him. Or Mom, because she won’t be able to keep it off her face in front of him. Swear it.”
“I swear. I won’t say a word.”
I shut the door quietly behind me. And to my horror, found Vittoria standing outside, her face white and hard.
Chapter 30
BETH
Vittoria crooked her finger at me. A silent command to come with her.
I went, because what else could I do? If we stayed here by Chiara’s room, there would be a blow-up and I didn’t want to drag Chiara into it.
Vittoria walked into her bedroom and shut the door after us.
It was strange to be in here. The whole room spoke of Vittoria’s power and taste and made me feel small. The soft, warm lighting was oddly intimate. A sumptuous grand canopy bed dominated the room, far too large for just one woman. Elegant nightstands of antique gilded wood flanked it. On a coffee table, a vase held freshly cut flowers. Oil paintings hung on the walls in gilded frames, portraits of elegant dark-haired woman who I imagined all looked a little like Vittoria. Ancestors perhaps.
I looked at it all because I couldn’t bring myself to look her in the eyes.
“Swear that you won’t say a word about what?” Vittoria demanded, her voice clipped and furious.
My mind went blank. “Er… we were just talking about things.”
Vittoria was no fool. She seemed to realise immediately that I had no intention of telling her what Chiara and I had spoken of. Her fists clenched at her sides.
“Youwilltell me,” she commanded.
“I think you should talk to Chiara yourself,” I said timidly, then winced, realising Chiara would think I had spilled everything to her mother.
“How dare you speak to my daughter when I forbid you to!”
I tried to reason with her. “She was upset. I just wanted to check she was okay.”
Vittoria laughed, a harsh, strangled sound. “You really think you have everyone fooled, don’t you? I know exactly what you are doing. Telling my daughter sob stories about your criminal father to make her feel sorry for you, just like you’ve been feeding my son stories about your mother to make him think you’re such a devoted daughter. My, aren’t you a clever little bitch!”
I felt like she had slapped me. “None of that is true,” I gasped.
