Chapter Forty-Five

I won't lie and say that I'm not nervous.

I can't begin to imagine what Sarah Ferrante might want to speak to me in private about. About Luca, sure. But what exactly? I close my eyes and rest my head against the headrest of his car. I think of Eliza at the mall. I hope Sarah won't do the same and try to warn me to stay away from her son.

I’m not someone who gives up easily. I never have been. I have a stubbornness that I inherited from my father, apparently. That’s what mom always said. My father walked into this life not knowing what he was getting himself into all those years ago and he didn’t crumble. He was driven for the love he had for her. And us. My late grandfather gave him no other choice; it was either he joined the family and became one of them, or he would have him killed and make his daughter a widow and Mary an orphan. Despite the fact that he came from a normal family, he never gave up. He adapted.

But I’m not sure how much it took from him.

It must have been a lot