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“Why?”
I shrug. “I think I was made for this world. You can’t deny what’s in your blood.”
Sera leans back against her seat. “I, on the other hand, have been in this world my whole life, and here I am. All the knowledge, none of the power. God. I would have loved to be raised away from here. Maybe then I could have grown up in a world where women are actually given choices.”
“Choices like what?”
“Like the choice of what to do with my life! I don’t know. Be a dentist, or something.”
I burst out laughing. “A dentist?”
“Well, probably not a dentist,” she concedes. “But you know what I mean. Something other than just a dumb wife of a dumb mobster.” She cuts me a glance. “No offense.”
“None taken.”
“I went to college, you know. I majored in business.”
“Business? You’re kidding me.”
She bristles. “No, why? What, do you think I’m just some dumb bimbo, or something?”
“You, Serafina Mucci, are hardly a bimbo,” I murmur. “No. I’m honestly impressed.”
She flips a hand at me. “Whatever. Typical macho bullshit, just like every other man I know.”
“Hey, now. That’s not fair.”
“Look, I’m not even saying it’s your fault.” She shakes her head. “That’s how the mafia breeds them, that’s all.”
“You’re very frank,” I observe.
She snorts. “You mean, for a girl?”
“Jesus, no. Give it a rest, would you, Serafina? I mean foranyonein our world. You speak your mind very freely. Most of the people I speak to on a daily basis hold their cards close to their chest.”
“How many people of the female persuasion do you talk to on a daily basis?” she asks archly.
The girl has a point.
“Honestly, though, what good would it even do me to hold my cards close to my chest?” She blows out a sigh. “That’s for people who have stakes in the game. Things to win and lose. This game? It’s not designed for women. We’re nothing but cards to play.”
I don’t reply. She’s right, after all.
“When I was younger, I thought that maybe I could break that mold,” she continues. “My father allowed me to attend college, instead of immediately marrying me off. Since Daddy didn’t have any sons, I think he might have been just a little reluctant to give away his first-born at eighteen. I wasn’t quite as much of an afterthought as some girls are to their fathers. I thought maybe that gave me a chance.
“I was hoping that majoring in business would show Daddy my seriousness and drive. I was hoping he’d stop thinking of me as a girl, and start thinking of me as… well, like he would think about a son. Someone who could eventually have a position in his organization.” She huffs out a laugh. “But at the end of the day, sometimes I have to wonder why I even did it. I’ll never be allowed to get a job. I’ll never be allowed to live on my own. All that education, all that determination, and I’m still just a token for my dad. A prize to be dressed up in pretty clothes and paraded in front of a man who has something to offer the head of the Mucci family.” She shakes her head. “A man who will only care about money and power. I’m just a damn trophy to set up on a shelf. But let me tell you something, Antony D’Agostino. Don’t think I will marry you just because my father says so.”
“I wouldn’t dream of it,” I say mildly.
She makes a face. “Don’t be cute.”
“I mean it, Sera. Marriage in our world is for life. That’s a long damn time. And I would hope to be with someone who doesn’t despise me. If you hated me so much that you refused an offer of marriage from me, I wouldn’t push it.”
A bitter laugh escapes her. “You might not. But my father would.”
For the first time, I think I really hear what she’s saying.
I’ve always known that women in our world didn’t get much choice in the matter of their lives. But sitting here in this car, I realize how much potential the woman next to me has.
