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Chapter One
Romano
When I made the decision to come to Chicago, it wasn’t an easy one. I had suffered a huge loss, one that I still haven’t been able to get past. I needed to get away from all the memories. Maybe it was a cowardly move to leave. Rome is my home, where I spent my whole life. But I had to. Everywhere I looked, I saw my wife and kids.
Since the day I met Amara inscuola media superiore, which is the equivalent of high school in the US, I never wanted anyone else. We were fourteen, and it was the first week of school. I saw her walk across the yard to a class we shared. It took me a few months to even get her to talk to me. But I finally got her to not only talk to me, but she agreed to go to the movies with me. I felt like the luckiest guy in school.
After our movie night, we spent every moment we could together. In Italy, the first two years of secondary education are mandatory. The last three are voluntary. Amara and I decided we wanted to continue going to school. I decided to learn how to fix motorcycles and cars. Amara wanted to be a teacher.
We were eighteen when we found out we were pregnant with Bruno. Romeo was born two years later and we rounded out our family with baby Oriana two years after that. We had talked about having more babies, and I found out that she was three months pregnant when the accident happened. The guy that killed my family got off easy—he died that day too. I never got to have revenge on him and I never will.
The family Amara and I had created together was gone in the blink of an eye. All it took was one person’s bad judgement to take away everything that I held in my heart. I wasn’t with them when the accident happened and that kills me every day. I usually drove them everywhere, but that day I had things to do for my MC. I’ve been a patched member of the Silenziatori Motorcycle Club in Rome, Italy for eleven years. My job with them was being an enforcer.
The day of the accident, my oldest son, Bruno, was seven. He had a football game and I planned on meeting them there. They never made it to the game. And my heart has never been the same. I had to leave my home and start over. The memories were just too much.
Luckily, I had options. I was able to transfer from my original MC to our mother club, Cimaruta MC in Chicago. Since being here, I feel like this is where I’m meant to be. I still miss my family every day, but at least now I’m not reminded of them everywhere I look.
When I first transferred, I slipped easily into the role of enforcer. It’s what I did for my old MC. But now I’m also a bodyguard for Maeve. She’s the wife of Francesco ‘Bestia’ Bastianini, the sergeant-at-arms. Every woman in the family has a bodyguard. My situation is a little different than other bodyguards. I don’t live with Francesco and Maeve, and I usually only accompany her when Francesco can’t. Or if he needs extraback up. The rest of the time, I do whatever my president, Giacomo ‘Forza’ Bastianini asks of me.
Our club is also different from most motorcycle clubs. Our main council is made up of the Bastianini family, including the women. When I first heard about our mother club doing this, I thought it was a crazy idea. But now being here and getting to know Caitríona ‘Forte’ Bastianini and her daughters, Isabella ‘Dolce’ and Luciana ‘Fuoco’ Bastianini, I like how it’s done. The Bastianini family have taken me in as one of their own and have given me a new family.
But being a part of a new family doesn’t take away the pain of losing my own family. I haven’t told anyone about what happened. All the club knows is that I needed a new start. I know they all know something happened that made me leave, but they respect the fact that I will tell them when I’m ready.
Simone
My parents have never allowed me to do anything. I’ve never gone to a real school, I’ve never played sports. And I’ve never had any friends besides my siblings. There are four of us: my older brother Thomas, me, Robin and the baby, Lucy. We are all two years apart. When Thomas turned twenty-two last year, he left and took Robin with him. They wanted me to go too, but I couldn’t leave Lucy here alone. So I stayed with her.
We do get to go out. Once in a while we get to go grocery shopping with our mother. That’s how I know what’s out there, and how Thomas got the idea to leave. He tried to wait till Lucy was eighteen, but something happened and he changed his plans. He said he had to leave then.
The one thing my mother taught me was how to cook and bake. When I turned sixteen, she started making me cook dinner. I had to make the main meal and dessert every night. Plus, I still had to keep up with my studies. It was challenging, but I learned to get it all done.
When I promised Lucy I wouldn’t leave her, I thought I could handle another two years of being here. But lately I’m questioning that. My father had never been an abusive man, but since Thomas left? He’s been yelling at us a lot. And he’s started hitting me. My mother doesn’t do anything about it. She just sits and watches. Or she’ll leave the room. When he gets mad, it’s usually for no good reason. A pillow left crooked on our bed, or I forgot to put the place settings ‘just right.’
I need to leave, but Lucy is only seventeen.
“You need to get out of here. Like Thomas and Robin. Do you think you can find them?” Lucy whispers as we lie in our beds.
“They told me where they were going. But I don’t know if they’re still there. And I can’t leave you here alone with them.” I frown.
“Yes you can. I can do this, but you have to promise to come back for me.”
“I won’t leave you,” I say again. “We’ll go together.”
Now I have to figure out when we can leave. When Thomas and Robin left, my parents put alarms on the doors and windows. They set it anytime they leave the house and while we sleep. During the day, my mother watches our every move. Except when we go to the bathroom. That’s the only time we’re allowed alone time. And I know that taking Lucy with me is dangerous because she’s not eighteen yet. But I have to, I don’t think we’ll survive another year.
I will find a way to get us out of here. I can get a job somewhere, I don’t know how but I know I can. I can cook, clean and bake. I wish I knew where Thomas and Robin were so wecould be with them. A part of me is afraid to do this with just me and Lucy, yet I know this is what we need to do.
Lucy and I have been planning for a month now. I don’t know where we’ll go yet but I think we’ll head north. When I was younger, I heard my father say he and my mother were from Missouri. That’s south of us and I don’t want to take the chance that we could run into any of their families. Even though we’ve never met any of them.
The plan that Lucy and I came up with is that we will get out the front door. The alarm will go off, but I know where we can hide until it’s safe. I’m so darn scared. I don’t know what my parents will do if they catch us. But I can do this, for me and for Lucy.
Then we’ll head north, I’m not sure how far north. But I know the busses are cheap and before Thomas left, he gave me one thousand dollars and told me to keep it safe. That it was the money I would need to leave. I asked him where he got it, and he told me not to worry about it. I miss him and Robin so much. All he said was he was going to go north, maybe we’ll get lucky and find them.
Chapter Two
Simone
Tomorrow night is when we’re going to leave. Part of me is scared because I’m leaving everything I know behind. But there’s that voice inside that’s saying my father is only going to get worse. I think when he lost control over Thomas, he just snapped. And if I leave Lucy behind, I know he’ll start hitting her. I can’t stand that thought.
