Page 2 of Carlo (Sindicate Towers #9)

He leaves me standing in the garden. A child.

A petulant child. I’m not a child. I’m a mother.

A wife. A victim. A survivor. I’m more than that.

I’m so much more than the sum of my parts.

I will not be a victim again. I will not be a pawn again.

I will not be a servant. Not to Al Silvio.

Not to the Verrazanos or the Falcone.s I’m done being everyone’s bitch.

I storm towards the house. My mind is a furnace, churning and sparking with ideas.

I can’t let him make me a slave again. I can’t let him sell me again.

I can’t let him use Cate to keep me in line.

I don’t know what I’m going to do yet. But I know I have a week to figure it out.

One week to save my daughter. Save myself.

* * *

“What are you doing?”

I glance up from packing my bag to see Rosa standing in the doorway of my room. Her brown eyes are wide, and her hands are clasped tightly in front of her. I can already see the disapproval written on her face.

“I’m leaving,” I say, turning back to my bag.

“Are you insane? You can’t just leave. You have a family to think about. Do you know what will happen if the Verrazanos think that your father is hiding you from them?”

I sigh and sit on my bed. “I have no choice. I can’t stay here.”

“Valeria, please, just think about what you’re doing. You can’t just run away from your problems. They’ll find you, and then what?”

I shake my head. “I can’t do it again, Rosa. I stayed last time. I did what they asked. When that bastard nearly beat me to a pulp, not one of my family raised a hand to help. I can’t trust them anymore. I need to get away.”

“But what about Caterina? You can’t just take her away from everything she knows.”

“She’s young, she’ll adapt. She can make new friends and meet new people.

The hardest part will be finding another therapist for her.

Paying for a new therapist. Believe me, I know all the challenges we’ll face.

However, staying here is not an option. I can’t let them plan the future they have for her.

They can put me in the grave. I don’t care.

But I’ll never let them marry her off like they did me. ”

“So why not marry the Falcone man then? If they promise protection…”

“These men only protect themselves. Rosa, you know this.”

She sighs and sits beside me. “I don’t want you to leave.”

“I don’t want to go either. But I have to.

For me and Caterina.” I take her soft hand in mine and squeeze it.

Rosa has been like a sister to me since her parents died in a car accident ten years ago.

Losing Zia Carmen and Zio Lucca was hard on all of us.

But for once, my father did the right thing.

He honored his father by bringing Rosa and Antonio to live with us.

Earning their lifelong loyalty. Now, I need her to turn her back on that loyalty and help me and my daughter.

I hate putting her in this position, but I have zero choices, other than the two my father offered.

“Promise me you won’t forget me,” she whispers, tears shimmering in her eyes.

“How could I ever forget you? You’re my family, Rosa.

You will always be my family.” I press our foreheads together.

“But it might be a while before I can get in touch. A long while.” I don’t mention that it might be years…

decades. How long will it take my father’s anger to subside?

How can I tell her that it might be forever?

“I understand. Just… stay safe, okay.” She hugs me tight.

“I will.”

Rosa tearfully bids me another goodbye with a rib-breaking hug.

Then she slips like a shadow back to her room.

I lie down, wrapping myself around Cate and wait for the house to quiet.

I’m so often in the security room that I know their habits.

I know which one falls asleep at precisely two am every morning.

I know how to slip in and turn the cameras off, hiding my movements in darkness and snores.

The garage is never locked. The cars sit with keys in the ignition for anyone’s use when Don Alphonse calls for one.

The tricky part will be leaving the main gate.

But I’m taking the SUV with the tinted windows.

No one will think twice about Leo’s car leaving in the middle of the night.

My brother is always coming and going, visiting the many women he has around the city.

I have my fake ID, my cash, and Caterina.

A bag and a way out I had arranged during my marriage to Ben.

A bag I never used. How many pain-filled nights had I laid in bed and contemplated my escape?

Maybe if I had acted then, before it was too late, I would have avoided this mess.

My father was right about one thing. If I made this mess, I will fix it.

Caterina turns and snuggles into my chest. Her soft curls brushing my cheeks.

She mumbles something, and I strain to hear the words.

Reaching for the voice I haven’t heard in a year.

Not one word has passed her lips since that night.

The night that changed both of our lives and ended another.

But her words are as lost to the darkness as I am.

I shut my eyes and try again to sleep. Try not to worry about the hell, I may be bringing down on both of us.