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"But today, we could have died. That never happened before I was engaged to him."
"I've never heard of it happening to his mom, or his sister, either."
"Just because we've never heard of it, doesn't mean it hasn't happened. I'm sure no one except immediate family will ever hear of what happened to us today either." Carlotta flops onto her back and glares at the ceiling.
"But they've never actually been kidnapped or harmed, right?"
"How do you know that?"
"Because they are both living peacefully in their homes," I point out.
Carlotta harrumphs, clearly unconvinced.
"Would you run away if you could?" I ask reluctantly.
I don't want to take her with me. She'll make everything harder, and our father will never stop searching for her, which will put my own freedom at risk. If we are caught, I have no doubt my father will kill me after torturing me.
But if she says yes, I can't leave my sister behind to pay the price that makes my own escape from Papà's house possible.
Carlotta laughs a little hysterically. "Right? Like I know how to function in the real world. Papà has made sure we are totally unequipped to take care of ourselves."
I know she's younger than me, but Carlotta has been out of school for a year. She could have spent time learning about how to navigate life outside the mafia if she'd wanted to. Like I have. No, I haven't left yet, but I didn't want to leave my sister until I had to. Or my aunt and uncle. They love me, even if my father doesn't.
"I will talk to Aria about convincing Don De Luca to get you cooking classes," I offer, hoping that will assuage my sister.
She turns back to me, her face glowing with excitement. "You will? There's a bunch of amazing culinary institutes in the city. I don't care which one I go to. I mean I have my favorite of course, but attending any of them would be a dream come true."
"What's your favorite?" I ask, wanting to keep this positive attitude going.
"Oh, you wouldn't know it," she says vaguely. "It doesn't matter anyway. Like I said, I'd go to any of them. When I graduate, maybe I'll be able to create new dishes for some of the mafia owned restaurants."
That sounds like a teenager's dream, not set in any kind of reality, but I smile anyway. She'll learn more than cooking techniques if she gets to attend culinary school. She'll learn the hierarchy in the kitchen.
I watch a lot of cooking shows with my sister. From what I've seen, I'm pretty sure Carlotta would have to work her way up to creating dishes. It's not surprising that she hasn't drawn the same conclusion.
In Carlotta's world, she can have and do what she wants. Except pick her own husband.
"I don't think it will be safe for a don's wife to work in a kitchen, even in one our restaurants."
"Oh, I don't want to work. Not like full-time, or anything. I want to experiment with food and preparation techniques."
She'll be able to do that in her own home. The don can refurbish his kitchen to restaurant standards and I'm sure he won't mind doing so. I get the feeling that he wants to do whatever he needs to in order to keep my sister occupied and happy.
And out of his hair.
Even though I don't like thinking of her in that kind of passionless marriage, my worry for her future dissipates a little.
"If only I knew him better. I don't think the prospect of marrying him would be so scary." Carlotta sighs. "Though nothing is going to change that he's old enough to be my father."
"Only if he was a precocious teen." The don is sixteen years older than her, not twenty. Stifling the little voice in my head that says the age difference between the don and myself is less daunting, I say, "You'll get to know him before the wedding. Isn't that what the weekly dinners in his home are for?"
Carlotta has been to one dinner with the De Lucas and was supposed to go with our father again tomorrow. Will that still happen?
Carlotta snorts. "He and Papà spent the whole time last week talking business and it will be the same at the next one."
I want to grind my teeth in frustration. These dinners are for Carlotta to get to know her future husband, and Papà is commandeering them with his usual self-serving attitude, oblivious to anyone else's needs. Even those of his favorite daughter.
I'll be talking to Aria about more than Carlotta going to culinary school.
