Chapter 4

"What did you say?"

Leo takes a step back.

Then he looks toward the hallway.

"Aunt Serena said Daddy paid enough."

I stand.

"She said Grandma's never getting better anyway."

"Don't."

"She said you use her to make Daddy feel bad."

The room is too small.

Too full of things someone decided I no longer owned.

"Your grandmother was shot protecting you."

Leo frowns.

He doesn't like my voice.

I don't like it, either.

"She's just an old woman," he says.

Then he reaches for the cloth again.

I shove him away.

He trips over a bag and falls onto his bottom.

For a second, neither of us moves.

Then he starts screaming.

"Daddy!"

My hand is still out.

I lower it.

I shouldn't have done that.

I know it immediately.

But I can't stop hearing his words.

My mother spent weeks learning to get out of bed without help.

She cried when she thought I wasn't looking.

Not because of the pain.

Because she couldn't hold Leo.

She was afraid he would forget her.

"Daddy!"

Dante comes through the doorway.

He picks Leo up.

"What happened?"

"She pushed me!"

Leo presses his face into Dante's neck.

"Make her go away."

Dante looks at me.

"What the hell is wrong with you?"

"He grabbed—"

"He's a child."

"I know."

"Then why are you putting your hands on him?"

I look down.

A piece of porcelain has cut my palm.

Blood marks the cloth.

"He broke my mother's pendant."

Dante glances at it.

"Buy another one."

"It was my grandmother's."

"And he's four."

"He was repeating what Serena told him about my mother."

"What did she tell him?"

I look at Leo.

He hides his face.

"Ask him."

Dante rubs his back.

"Leo."

"She got mad."

"What did you say?"

A long pause.

"That Grandma costs too much."

I wait for Dante's expression to change.

It doesn't.

"Serena deals with the bills," he says. "He probably overheard something."

"She saved your life."

His jaw tightens.

"I know what happened."

"Then why doesn't your son?"

"He was a baby."

"He's old enough to repeat that she's a waste of money."

"Enough."

The word makes Leo relax against him.

He knows what it means.

I'm the one being told to stop.

Dante looks at the cloth again.

For a moment, his voice softens.

"We've covered every expense for three years, Lucia. Every specialist. Every treatment."

"I didn't ask you for a list."

"What else do you want?"

I stare at him.

I want my mother to walk without pain.

I want her to stop apologizing when she needs help.

I want my son to know her name without someone rolling their eyes.

"Your father promised we would be safe."

"You are safe."

I look around the storage room.

Dante follows my gaze.

Then he looks away.

"Don't confuse what happened between us with what the family has done for you."

"What happened between us?"

His face hardens again.

"You signed the papers."

"Yes."

"Then don't come into my house and start trouble."

My house.

Not ours.

Maybe it never was.

Leo lifts his head.

"I want Aunt Serena."

Dante kisses his hair.

"She's inside."

I wrap the broken pendant carefully.

My hands are steadier now.

"I shouldn't have pushed him," I say.

Dante nods once.

As though I've finally arrived at the only fact that matters.

Then he adds, "You wouldn't be standing here after what happened if you weren't his mother."