Page 7 of Sins of the Orchid

I swallowed hard, bile rising in my throat.

Do. Not. Panic.

“Kiddo, stay with us.” Santino’s voice pulled me back from the screams that echoed in my head. My eyes found his dark gaze, finding comfort in them. Safety. “That’s right, kiddo. Stay with me.”

My hand came to my chest, the intense pain squeezing air out of my lungs. Like someone sat on my chest, the oxygen felt in short supply. Inhaling deeply, I exhaled slowly. The buzzing in my ears grew by the second, making me disoriented. I focused on his dark depths and took another lungful of air into my lungs. Then I slowly exhaled through my constricted chest.

“Again,” he instructed in a low voice.

I followed his command and repeated the motion. My lungs slowly loosened, making it easier to breathe. He nodded his head and offered barely a hint of a smile.

“Good girl,” he murmured.

His praise warmed me on the inside, and the pain that had been my constant since we went through the horror in the jungles of South America dulled just a tiny bit. I wanted to keep Santino Russo with me forever so I could forget the pain. His strength seemed to be able to erase it with ease.

“Her father is on his way. Give a heads up to the men and have them on alert. Nobody is to hurt him.” Mr. Russo’s voice sounded in the distance. I heard him, but the words barely registered. I felt safe in Santino’s dark gaze. “Amore, your dad is on his way.”

I peeled my eyes away from Santino and looked at Mr. Russo. “Thank you,” I answered in a small voice.

“Hey, Amore,” Adriano’s cheerful voice chimed in. “How about you help me with math now? As a down payment for getting your phone back tonight.” My head slowly turned his way. There was a wide, happy grin on his face. “If I don’t do well, I’ll have to get weekend tutoring and that will be fucking hell.”

“Language, boy,” Mr. Russo scolded, but Adriano’s grin didn’t evaporate. I liked seeing him grinning, his mischievousness easing the air around us.

“Okay,” I answered. Math was my order in chaos. And fashion was my passion. “You have your books?”

“I’m going to get my homework. Mr. Salvatore is a pain in the ass with his paper homework.”

I nodded and watched him go to the back of the place, then come back with his books. For the next twenty minutes, the world and past were forgotten as I worked through advanced Algebra problems with Adriano.

Santino left our table to stand with his dad, the two speaking in Italian and looking at the map while Adriano and I finished all his homework.

“Just follow these steps and you can solve any problem,” I told him. The door chimed but I didn’t pay any attention, all my focus on the problem in front of me. Adriano didn’t look like he believed my explanation about the methods of resolving math problems.

Suddenly, tension spiked and awareness shot through me. I raised my head from the homework to find Adriano’s gaze on the door. I followed his gaze and saw my father standing there. Along with Lorenzo and Luigi, my two brothers, and Uncle Vincent. Vincent never married and was Dad’s twin brother, though they looked nothing alike. Though right now all the men had something in common. They looked furious.

“What is my daughter doing here?” he barked, his sharp tone making me jump in my seat.

My pulse leapt into my throat. So far, Father had kept his temper and anger hidden, but his wife kept telling me he’d kill me if I stepped out of line. The terror of those words drilled into me.

“I didn’t mean to—” My voice shook with fear. I didn’t want him to kill me. Elena told me he killed many men for less. My eyes darted around looking for all the possible exits. I had to run.

“Calm down. She got lost.” Mr. Russo kept his calm, though his jaw ticked with irritation. “She was upset, some boys took her phone, and we took her in until you got here.”

The two men kept their eyes locked, communicating without words. I noticed all the men kept their hands on their guns, including Santino. Sweat broke through me and my pulse spiked.

They are like those men in the jungle.

My father’s gaze traveled to me as if seeking my confirmation. Fear gripped me, settling into my bones. I hated that I felt so weak, so vulnerable. These men instilled fear into this city, and I was no exception to fearing them. This world was different from the one I was surrounded by until recently.

I should be stronger though. Like Mom. Like Grandma.

“Amore?” Dad’s voice penetrated through my fear. There wasn’t a threat in his voice, just concern.

Inhaling deeply, I finally nodded. “Y-yes. Vincent… Uncle Vincent wasn’t there at my dismissal.”

“Yes, I was,” he protested, his eyes flashing with annoyance. He has been late picking me up from the first day I started the new school, but I kept the words to myself. “Your dismissal was at three, and I was there five minutes before.”

“Wednesdays are two o’clock dismissal,” Adriano chimed in.