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"I heard from Raf what you're doing with the academy and I think it's wonderful," I praise quietly as I take a seat by her side, purposefully or not putting myself between her and Raf. "It can't have been easy to set everything up."
Vlad is by Sisi's side, still giving Raf semi-hostile looks, though at this point I'm unsure if it's because he's still hung up on the past, or he just likes to make people uncomfortable. I might go for the latter.
"Oh, not at all. It's been a work in progress. We have the original cohort that we saved, but we want to expand at some point. Isn't that right, love?" she reaches out to touch Vlad's hand, almost as if she's trying to calm a feral beast with her touch.
The effect is immediate. He blinks once before his entire face lights up in a smile.
"Of course. We've been thinking of buying a much bigger location somewhere upstate and build everything from the ground up. Especially since we might need some…architectural gimmicks."
For a while, the conversation centers solely on their academy and how they are currently running it. Sisi details their curriculum and the steps they've taken to rehabilitate the kids to be fit for society after the trauma and conditional learning they had been subjugated to.
Raf is right by my side, his hand around my midriff in an almost unconscious way that has my heart pounding in my chest with happiness.
Eventually, though, the discussion veers into more uncomfortable territory as Raf finally asks the question we were both curious about.
"How is Marcello doing?"
"Still locked up," Sisi purses her lips. "Lina and the kids are with Enzo for a bit while they figure things out since they're worried about their security alone in the house. And as you know, Venezia is with us. It's just horrible what happened with all of them at once."
"And it'syourbrother's fault," Vlad shoots, without minding his filter as I've come to expect of him.
I narrow my eyes at him.
"Technically, he's Sisi's brother too," I point out.
"Let's not get into particularities," Sisi is quick to intervene, her hand on Vlad's as she gives him a look that saysbehave. "It doesn't matter whose brother Michele is because that doesn't make him any less rotten."
A look of guilt flashes across Raf's face.
"I'm not saying this to excuse Michele's actions," he takes a deep breath, "but in his mind, he's doing this all for a reason."
"Yes," Vlad rolls his eyes, "because he thinks Marcello killed Nicolo."
"Yes and no," Raf winces, and both Vlad and Sisi look at him expectantly.
Just at that moment, though, Venezia appears in the doorframe.
She's wearing a long black dress coupled with black tights, her hair unbound and flowing beautifully down her back. She has a hesitant smile on her face as she enters the room, almost as if she's waiting for permission.
Which Sisi immediately gives.
"Do come in, Zia. Take a seat," she smiles at her sister.
Venezia nods, grabbing a chair and sitting across from all of us.
Having heard of her involvement with Michele, I can't help but study her in an attempt to understand how that could have happened. She comes across as dainty—breakable. The opposite of Michele. And yet, maybe that was exactly what appealed to him about her.
"You can talk, Raf," Sisi tells him. "Zia is aware of what is happening at the moment, especially since it affected her with those awful videos Michele spread," she winces when she sees Zia's face fall.
It's clear they only suspect Michele was the one who spread the videos, not the one who also acted in them.
"Right," he mutters, giving me a look. "There are some things about Michele that you might not be aware. Aboutwhyhe's doing this," he starts before recounting what had happened with Antonio Guerra who'd raped and abused Michele for more than a year before someone had intervened.
I furtively glance at Venezia, watching for her reactions. And sure enough, there they are. Subdued, but very much there.
"He raped him?" Vlad's eyes widen.
"Daily," Raf grunts. "Sometimes with other people, too."
