AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I gasped suddenly as Luisa grabbed my arm. “Watch where you’re going,” she said sharply.
I blinked and realized I was at the top of the stairs. I hadn’t even realized. If I’d taken a step forward, I would’ve gone tumbling. Perhaps I would’ve died.
“Thank you,” I said, offering her a small smile. “I was distracted.”
“You have to keep your wits about you in situations like this,” she said. “You can’t act like a little naive girl. The world doesn’t work that way.”
I blinked at her. “Everyone in the world’s not in the Mafia, you know.”
“That is true,” she said. “But everyone in the world has their own agenda. And trust me when I say what you are doing in your life and what you are thinking and feeling is not at the top of anyone else’s list. Not even your father’s.”
I blinked at her. “So, you know my dad?”
“I don’t know him.” She shook her head. “I saw him once. Yes.” She nodded and looked away.
“When did you see my dad?”
“That day,” she said. “When he picked Antonio’s mother up.”
“Oh,” I said.
She nodded. “Yes. Anyway, I think you most probably don’t want to talk about this anymore.”
“No, I don’t. I don’t want to talk about it, and I don’t want to think about it. I want nothing to do with Antonio, with Don Roberto, with anyone in the Marchesi family. I just want to move on with my life.”
She nodded sorrowfully. “I hope that will be possible.”
“Yeah, me too.”
And then I was pretty sure she whispered under her breath, “For all our sakes.” I wondered what she meant by that, but I knew she wouldn’t tell me.
I was about to ask her why she still worked for this crazy family when Jimmy walked into the room holding a pair of keys in his hand.
“Hey, Callie,” he said, his eyes twinkling as he glanced at me.
“Yes?” I snapped at him, blushing at the memory of how he’d seen me earlier that day.
“Antonio asked me to drive you back to your dorm.”
“Okay,” I said, nodding.
“So you want to grab a coffee or anything before we go or…”
“No,” I said, shaking my head. “Do you have my stuff?”
His eyes widened at my tone, and he nodded. “Antonio’s just gathering it from his room. I’m sorry that everything—”
“You’re not sorry about anything,” I interrupted him. “So don’t even bother trying to give me your platitudes. They mean nothing to me.”
He nodded. “Thanks, Luisa, you can leave.”
“Yes, Jimmy,” she said. She looked at me for a couple of seconds. I thought she was going to give me a hug or say something nice, but then she turned on her heel and exited the room.
“She’s a hard one to crack,” Jimmy said as he walked over to me. I didn’t respond to him. “I’m sorry that it went down this way,” he said. “You look like a nice girl.”
“Are you really sorry?” I asked. “Or are you happy that Antonio got his revenge in some way? I’m sure you knew the plan, right?”
He stared at me for a couple of seconds and shrugged. I watched as he pulled out a packet of cigarettes from his pocket and opened it slowly. He offered it to me, and I shook my head and wrinkled my nose.
