Chapter 8
Lucy asked my father why he was sad.
Nobody had prepared for that.
Vittorio looked at her.
“Because I hurt your grandpa Daniel.”
Lucy frowned.
“You pushed him?”
“No.”
“Hit?”
“No.”
She looked confused.
“What?”
My father took longer than I expected.
“I didn’t help him when I should have.”
Lucy considered that.
Then:
“Bad.”
Vittorio almost smiled.
“Yes.”
Three-year-old moral philosophy.
Efficient.
Then Lucy climbed into Alina’s lap.
My father looked at his daughter-in-law.
“I’m sorry.”
Alina’s expression remained still.
“For which part?”
Good.
Vittorio swallowed.
“For letting your father carry my shame.”
Better.
“For letting you grow up believing he was what we called him.”
Better.
“For never finding you.”
Alina looked away.
That one hurt.
Vittorio knew Daniel had a daughter.
After Daniel died, he could have found her.
He did not.
Because helping Alina would have required acknowledging why she needed help.
Cowardice repeated itself.
Ramona finally spoke.
“This little confession doesn’t change the structure.”
I turned.
“What structure?”
She smiled.
“Daniel was staff.”
There.
Even now.
“Alina married above him.”
Marcus closed his eyes.
He knew his sister had gone too far.
Ramona continued anyway.
“Your wife got everything her father never could.”
Alina looked at her.
“No.”
Ramona laughed.
“You’re wearing diamonds at a Carbone donor luncheon.”
Alina touched her wedding ring.
Then looked at me.
“I got Lorenzo.”
Simple.
Ramona’s smile faded.
“I didn’t marry the family.”
That hit harder.
Alina continued.
“And that is exactly why you hate me.”
Silence.
“You think marrying him should make me grateful enough to forget what happened to my father.”
Ramona’s face tightened.
“You should be grateful.”
There.
The villain finally said it plainly.
Gratitude as silence.
Belonging as payment.
Alina smiled faintly.
“My father saved Vittorio’s life.”
Then she looked toward the polo field.
May you like
“If anyone owes gratitude, your branch has been looking in the wrong direction for twenty-four years.”
Even my father lowered his eyes.
