Page 105 of Wounded King

He breaks out into loud laughter. "Ah, tesoro, have a little faith in me. I can handle a little gang like your father's." He bends lower, so that only I can hear him. "As it stands, this might work in my favor."

I have no idea what he's talking about, and I don't have the energy to even try to understand it.

"Look, sis, I was thinking about doing it too," Sebastian says.

"Me too," Elaine nods carefully, having successfully soothed Mark back to sleep.

"Good grief, I've warned you kids." Mom shakes her head. "Didn't I warn you to stay away from social media and databases?"

"Yes, but you also never told us why." Elaine surprises me. She's always been more rebellious than I have, but I've never seen or heard her talk to Mom this way. Not even when she brought thebadboyfriend home.

"An explanation would have been nice," Sebastian agrees. "Are you going to tell us now who he is?"

Mom closes her eyes and tilts her head up like she's praying. A single tear flows down her cheek, and my heart goes out to her. She's hurting because of me. Marcello's arms around me tighten as if he knows what I'm thinking. His chest rumbles when mom remains quiet, and he says, "His name is Enzo Carbone. He used to be an enforcer for the Manetti family, but now he is one of their capos."

A capo,my mind digests. That's like a VP of a large firm. Exactly what the papers said Marcello is, or will be soon, at least. Alarmed, I look at him. "Don't worry, Violet. He can't start a war in New York. They're based out of Vegas."

A war?Oh my God, what in the name of all that's holy have I done?

"Breathe, cara mia, breathe," Marcello coaxes.

"So what's going to happen now?" Lee asserts, probably fed up with the family drama. He sounds more confident than I've ever heard him.

Marcello gives him a speculative look before he pulls me back to our couch, where we sit down, holding hands once again. "I," he stresses, "am going to have a chat with Enzo, see if we can get this whole thing straightened out."

"There is no talking to that man. You can't believe a word he says," Mom warns.

Marcello stiffens. I'm getting the impression he doesn't like my mom, which will be a problem. Later. I don't have the bandwidth to deal with that right now on top of everything else.

"Oh my God, is that a mouse?" Elaine snickers.

Sure enough, one of the mice Alejandro brought last night scurries across the floor. Felix, who has been rubbing Luciano's leg, scampers after it.

"Get it, big boy," Sebastian laughs.

"Can we please focus?" Mom demands, exasperated. "This is not a laughing matter. Enzo wanted us dead then, and I've no doubt he will try again now."

"Why did he want us dead?" Elaine asks the same question that just popped into my head.

With a fury I've never seen in her before, Mom turns on Elaine. "Because he had a mistress. A woman he wanted tomarryand start anewfamily with. A woman younger than me."

For some reason, I have a hard time believing that our father would have wanted his children dead. Mom, maybe, because isn't that the mafia way?Oh, the way you want to marry into? I snark at myself. But my head is too busy trying to puzzle all this out to start an argument with myself over the fact that Marcello would never hurt me.Oh, isn't that what your mom must have thought of your dad?

I have no memories of my dad, yet, somehow, I know he would have never hurt us, never hurtme.Uhm, excuse me, wasn't ithismenshootingat you?

Guilt churns my gut. I can't judge my mom for taking her children and running if her husband wanted to killher. She did what she had to do.

"Oh, what will we do?" Mom laments.

"Like I said, I'll handle it,Bianca," Marcello's voice is tight.

Mom visibly tenses. Then a sigh escapes her. "I haven't heard that name in a long time."

It takes me a moment to digest that Marcello just called her by what has to be herrealname. Sebastian is already a step ahead of me when he asks, "What's my real name?"

Mom leans over and lovingly strokes his hair. "You've always been Sebastian, sweetheart."

This shouldn't be important, not at all, but I want to know, "And mine?"