Page 32 of Sweet Prison
I leap off the bunk and grab the front of Sam’s uniform. “Did anyone read my mail?”
“What?” he chokes out. “No! Of course not!”
“If you’re lying to me, I’ll fucking end you!”
“I swear, Mr. Spada. Me and Jonas are the only ones who ever touch it before it’s sent out to be delivered. The post guy who comes to get it is solid, too. I’ve known him a long time and I’d vouch for him, honest.”
The vise squeezing my chest eases off.She’s safe.Everyone else can drop dead right in this instant, as far as I’m concerned.
We’ll need to stop all communication. Just in case. It will mean no more letters. No more soothing peace for my soul. It doesn’t matter. Her safety is the only thing that does. And to make sure Zahara stays unharmed, I’ll have Peppe stick to her like a fucking magnet. Protecting her has just become his toppriority, with a “fire at will” command to shoot anyone who looks or even breathes at her the wrong way.
I let go of Sam’s shirt and gesture toward the door. The sound of his retreating steps resonates off the solid walls, followed by the loud thud of the cell door shutting behind him. I look up at the cracked ceiling, but it’s not the crumbling drywall that I see. It’s a pair of honey-brown eyes, watching me. Recognizing me. Seeing me.
Chapter 10
Two months later
“Here.” I hand Nera a glass of water, still holding her hair back with my other hand.
As soon as she returned from visiting Massimo this morning, she went straight into the bathroom. She’s been puking the entire afternoon.
I’m still struggling to wrap my mind around the fact that my sister is pregnant. And that her scumbag of a stalker-turned lover-boy left, disappearing into thin air. If I ever set eyes on the asshole, I’m going to kill him.
“Do you want me to get you some ginger tea?”
“No.” She slowly rises to her feet. “I think I’m good.”
I lower the toilet lid and sit down while she drags herself to the sink and brushes her teeth.
“I thought morning sickness hits only, well, in the morning.”
“I think this is more of a reaction to my conversation with Massimo.”
Hearing his name is like taking a sledgehammer right to the chest.
It’s been almost ten weeks since our father’s funeral. Nera was supposed to meet with Massimo the next day, but when she called the prison to confirm protocol, she was informed that our stepbrother was in solitary confinement and his visitationprivileges were revoked for two months. I assume it meant no mail, either, but I’m not certain since I haven’t bothered to write. I didn’t realize just how much writing those letters meant to me until I stopped. But I’m done.
They say words can hurt you worse than any weapon. It’s absolutely true. With three little words, Massimo slashed through my heart, shredding it into a million bleeding pieces. Slicing the silly hope that lay within.
Just you, Nera.
His thoughtless words have wounded me too deeply, and I can’t seem to get them out of my head. Like a never-ending nightmare, they fester in my restless mind, displacing my former daydreams. My daytime fantasies of our first meeting, how I imagined it would happen between us. His arms would wrap around me in a tight, tight hug. He’d squeeze so hard, I wouldn’t be able to breathe.
God, I’m so stupid!All I can tell myself is,As if. I’d laugh at my foolish ass if I wasn’t hurting so much. But what makes this whole thing infinitely worse? I still dream about him. Only now, I have an actual face that haunts me in my sleep. Every night, it’s him and me, surrounded by people dressed in black. And then, there’s that brief, light touch of his fingers on my cheek. Even held captive by the sandman, I can still feel it like a physical caress. My dumb, dumb heart just doesn’t want to let it go.
Doesn’t want to lethimgo.
Massimo.
“What did he say?” I ask.
Nera looks up and our gazes meet in the mirror. “He wants me to marry Batista Leone.”
I stare at my sister in shock. “What?”
“As it happens, all those years, our father was just Massimo’s puppet. It’s our stepbrother who’s been controlling the Family. He called all the shots even before he got locked up. And he intends to keep doing so until he gets released and takes over officially. If I’m married to Leone, it ensures he keeps holding the reins of the Family.”
“That’s… insane,” I choke out. “You can’t marry that old pig.”