Page 131 of Cara

Upon entering, I glance back at the crowd and easily locate Xavier, who is noticeably taller than anyone else around him. His attentive eyes are solely on me as he invites everyone to help themselves, directing them toward the winding buffet catered from the city. Passing through the French doors, I find my mother admiring a framed photo on the table.

“Giulia was a wonderful woman. I was sad to hear of her passing.”

“Not mine, though.”

She touches the gold frame. “I knew you were alive.”

“How?”

“Because Xavier still was.”

A blow. Agut punch. Right off the bat.

Camilla sinks into the couch cushion, resting her sequined purse on her lap. She’s wearing one of the dresses I admired from her stocked closet, a caramel-colored wrap dress tied at her waist that complements the gold jewelry hanging from her ears and neck. She embodies the charm that comes with wealth, even without Vito Marin on her arm.

She smiles at how effortlessly she was able to unnerve me. “I may have been absent for many things, but I watched as we pushed you two together. All those years… You think I didn’t see how he looked at you? Granted, when I heard he’d taken upwith that redhead girl, I questioned if he’d found a way to suppress that little crush.” She scoffs, shaking her head. “But you married, and he was stupid enough to let everyone see he hadn’t.”

“Are you done?”

“I had no idea what happened to you when Vito told me you’d gone missing, but I knew it wasn’t death when Xavier disappeared too, only to return in his father’s place with control of everything, even your father’s territory. I gotta give him kudos. I didn’t think he had it in him.”

“If this is all you came to do, you can go.”

She stares at me long and hard enough to make me feel like a child again, no match for her brutal coolness. “You certainly look good. Happy.”

“I am.”

“But you don’t look like my daughter.”

I'm frozen by the door, wanting to control this, overpower her with rage, make her feel like shit, but my legs won’t budge. “Perceptive.”

“How does it feel to be everything you tried to run from?”

“You don’t get to ask me that.”

Her lips flatten. “Vito calls often.”

“I don’t care.”

“He told me not to wait for Victoria anymore… Wouldn’t tell me anything else.” She tries to unravel my lifeless gaze, but I give her nothing. Still, she says, “You know something.”

It’s easier to lie than it ought to be. “I haven’t talked to her in years.”

“Don’t play with me, Sophia. Not about my daughter.”

My eyes clamp shut with anger. “You knewnothingabout your daughters, Camilla. And you couldn’t handle the truth. Sit in ignorance like you always have,” I snap, unable to expel the image of what was left of my sister’s face when I left her in another continent, where she’ll remain forever.

Forever.

My mother stares at her lap for several minutes, oblivious to my growing annoyance in the silence. Realizing that this isn’t someone I plan to invite to Christmas dinner, I think it’s best to ask any questions I might have for her now. “You live in California?”

“Santa Barbara. Right on the beach.”

“Sounds nice.”

Her face lights up at the mere mention of her new life. “It really is. I didn’t know what I was missing. I sip a triple shot on the water every morning. Vito sent a dog I can barely stand. And I’m seeing someone. He owns a marina.”

“Vito is okay with that?”