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"It takes a lot of courage to leave what you did.”
I wonder if he's talking from personal experience.
"It takes bravery to do what you do, too.”
He gives me a sharp look. "How do you know what I do? Somebody talking?"
I blow out a breath, unsure if this is something that I'm going to regret. But I promised him I would be honest, and I always do what I say I'm going to. "Quinn did. Don't get mad at her, Sergio. I asked. I wanted to know. People are afraid of you!"
The narrowing of his eyes is a warning. “What exactly did she tell you?"
“She said, um… that you're part of…organized crime." This is definitely not the way I should say it, but I’m not sure what else I can say.
He smirks. "Part of organized crime. Okay then."
He neither confirms nor denies it. Great.
We drive in silence for a moment before I get brave enough to ask him, "So is it true?"
“That I’m part of organized crime?” Another smirk. “Yes."
He still offers no more information, just goes on to ask, "How much do you know about organized crime?"
"Almost nothing, except there are groups that do illegal things." My cheeks flush with color. "See, this is why I'm nervous to meet your parents. I mean… your mother, your family. I… I don't really know much about things like this." I stumble over my words, wishing I could take them back.
"You're fine. Relax. I just wanted to know what you knew. Yeah, I'm head of one of the mafia groups in Boston. There are several. My cousin runs another one, and most of the men that you've met are part of our groups. We do things that are illegal. Yes. Does that scare you?"
Again, I give him an honest answer. "Like I've said before, I've been around men that were supposedly good that treated people terribly. I think the terms good and bad are very relative. Don't you?"
He nods his head slowly. "Absolutely."
I stare when we pull up to a big estate. I've barely paid attention in the past few minutes to where we were. Back where I came from, we lived in humble houses so close together it felt like the walls were connected. I could hear people sneeze in the house next door. Here? This looks like they are set apart on a hill. The house is massive, imposing—regal, even. And there are no houses anywhere near it.
Sergio smirks. “My cousins live in an actual castle. I'll take you there sometime. It's stunning, people come from all over the country to visit it. They have a secret cellar, a swimming pool in the house, and a courtyard. We hold most of our family functions there, because first of all my mother hates having people over to her house and second of all it makes for beautiful pictures. The ocean’s behind their property, all blue green with waves crashing on the shore and all that."
I haven't heard him speak so personally like this before. I want to go to the castle, just to see if he's different when he's there.
"I grew up here. My sister Vivia was sent to boarding school. My father intentionally kept her apart from us.” He draws in a breath. "I don't know who's here, but I have a feeling it will be a lot of people. Marialena hasn't gone home yet. Sometimes her husband flies to Italy for a month at a time, and she doesn't like to be in their huge house in Florida alone, so she comes back up here to stay with family. So she's probably going to be here. Obviously, Mario won't because he’s still in the hospital, but he's doing better. You’ll meet Nonna, and Tosca, Mario and Marialena’s mother, and my other cousins. Our family’s huge, with cousins and aunts and uncles and all sorts of interconnected people. Some are actual aunts, and some we just call aunts, like Flo. I grew up with a huge family, obviously influenced by them. Some I’m closer with than others. I'm the head of my group though. And Romeo Rossi, my cousin, is the head of theirs. He might be here. Nonna is everyone's grandmother whether related or not.” He rubs a hand across his brow. “It makes more sense not to question it."
Wow. It's hard to imagine what it's like growing up in a big family, but there were definitely people in our fellowship that did. I only had my sister, and as much as I'm glad it was only the two of us because I would hate to think of even more people being treated the way we were, it would've been nice to have more allies.
"What are you thinking?"
I don't always know how to answer him when he asks this question. This time, though, I know.
"I was just thinking that it's a blessing and a curse we didn't have more kids in my family. On the one hand, I hate the thought of anybody being treated the way my sister and I were.” I laugh humorlessly, thinking of the heavy task looming ahead of me. "I also don't know how many more people I would be able to go back and save." I look out the window, but I'm aware of the bristling energy beside me. He doesn’t like the fact that I was hurt.
I swallow and take a deep breath. “But I was also thinking it might've been nice to have more friends, people that would understand where I was coming from."
And then I have a realization, something I haven’t really thought about before. As odd as it is… Sergio and I have very similar backgrounds despite the differences in our circumstances. Obviously, we both have siblings, but there’s a deeper similarity. If I am to take what he says as truth, Sergio was raised in a wealthy, Italian, mafia family while I was raised in a religious family. But both families placed difficult, even rigid, expectations on us. The situations may have been very different, but in that one sense, they weren't different at all.
“Still waters run deep,” he says thoughtfully. “I can tell you’re thinking deep thoughts, Eden.”
I exhale a shuddering breath. “I was thinking that neither one of us were raised with the kind of nurturing that children should have. And I may have been taught certain things by the fellowship, but there is one thing I know for sure. I've seen enough innocent, dependent babies who couldn't even lift their heads, never mind feed themselves, or meet their own needs, to know that children deserve to be loved. Children deserve to becherished. They need to know they are loved and accepted and wanted.”
He doesn’t respond at first but frowns, navigating the road in front of him.
“Now what areyouthinking?”
