Feeling some pain in my lower back, I head to the bed to rest a little. Assisi's gaze is focused on my belly and she's frowning.
"Why is your belly so big?" She finally asks.
"I'm expecting a baby." Her eyes widen.
"A baby?" Hurrying to my side, she looks at my bump in wonder. "There?"
I nod, taking her hand and placing it on my belly. Right at that moment, my baby girl decides to kick. Assisi withdraws her hand, a shocked expression on her face.
"How does the baby live there?" She asks, almost horrified.
"It's a girl. And she lives in here through me." I try my best to explain the biology of it to a child, almost forgetting that I'm not much older than one either. I was lucky that Enzo didn't hold the same anachronistic views like my father. He got me a gynecologist appointment to check my baby's health right before I moved to Sacre Coeur. I'd found out that I was carrying a healthy girl, and I'd been able to hear her heartbeat.
"So you'll be a mother?" She asks, bringing her ear to my bump and trying to listen for the baby's sounds.
"Yes." I answer, not making too much out of her question. She raises her head slowly, her eyes downcast.
"I've never had a mother." She whispers. "She didn't want me."
"Sweetie." I take her hand and squeeze, trying to offer her my comfort.
"Can you be my mother too?" Her beautiful eyes are full of hope as she looks at me.
"Sweetie, I can't be your mother." I start and her face falls immediately. "But I can be your sister." I quickly add.
"Really?"
"Really."
"Thank you." She takes me into her arms and gives me a hug. My arms go around her small body and I hold tight.
We're both in the same boat now.
Unwanted.
Hated.
But at least we're not alone anymore.
Lasciate ogne speranza, voi ch'entrate
—Dante Aligheri, Inferno Canto III
Chapter One
PRESENT-DAY
I'VE BEEN SITTING AT Tino's grave for what seems like forever. Ten years... I hadn't seen my brother in ten years. And now he's dead. In this lifetime, I've had many regrets. What's more to add to the bunch? With one last glance, I stand up to leave.
Not too far in the distance, I see Vlad, hands in his pockets, waiting for me.
"Vlad." I incline my head, knowing that his presence here will not bring me any good news.
I thought that with Jimenez dead, everything would end. I was wrong. Everything is just beginning.
"Capo Lastra." He smirks at me, and my lip twitches in annoyance.
"What is it?" I ask.
"You need to take your position back, my friend. War is coming." I scoff at his choice of words.
"Not interested ten years ago, not interested now," I reply and move past him.
"What about your sisters?" He asks, and I stop in my tracks, turning ever so slightly.
"What about them?" I have two sisters, Assisi, and Venezia. Both young... far too young to know about the cruelty of the world.
"They'll be fair game for anyone looking for legitimacy. Still not your business?"
"They'll manage." I lie, knowing there is no way they will ever manage.
There was a reason I left that life behind a decade ago. I'd done some things that even now prevented me from sleeping at night.
"You know they won't. Venezia is what... fifteen?" Vlad casually asks, and I have to grit my teeth.
She'd been a small child when I'd left. I barely even remember her. But he is right. They will be fair game if I don't step in.
As much as I'd like to pretend that the last few weeks haven't happened, that I'm still Marcel Lester, and that Tino is still alive and well... I can't.
"I'll move into the house soon." I relent.
"I knew you'd see reason." Vlad beams at me. "The Gallaghers have already made their first move. You know what you have to do."
"I know. I'll drop by Enzo's and make peace with him, now that we know who really killed Romina."
"I wasn't talking about that..." Vlad raises his eyes to look at me. "You must consolidate an alliance. Marriage."
"Venezia is too young., and Assisi will soon take her vows." I immediately add.
"I wasn't talking about them."
"I can't marry. You of all people should know why." I emphasize. My past has soiled me. I cannot even bear the touch of a woman without recoiling in disgust. I could never marry.
"You must. It's the only way." Vlad insists.
"There's only one woman I'd ever consider marrying. And she's gone." I lift my head up and close my eyes for a second, conjuring up her face.
"Exactly. She's gone. Which means you must marry whoever Enzo proposes. You need to realize that times are changing." Vlad's being more forceful than I've ever seen him.
"I won't shirk my responsibility... if only for my sisters."
"It can be a marriage in name only. It's been done before." He adds, and I grunt. A marriage in name only is the only marriage I'm capable of.
"If that's all..." I say and make to leave.
"No." Vlad pushes a file in front of me. I frown.
"What's this?" I ask, wondering what else Vlad has under his sleeve.
"Your first assignment as capo." I take the file and open it.
It's an FBI report, documenting serial killings. I sift through the pages, and I feel a knot tightening in my stomach.
"How long have you known?" I ask, my voice trembling with alarm.
"Long enough." He shrugs and then points to the last page.
5th May, Philadelphia
"This is last month," I say as I look at the horrific details. The murder is that of a family with two children. The images are grotesque, showing adults with the sown limbs of the children and vice versa.
"This can't be Chimera," I say confidently.
"You're right. But if it's not Chimera, then who is it?" Vlad purses his lips. I avert my gaze and take a deep breath.
Our sins always catch up with us. And mine have been chasing me for an awfully long time.
Chapter Two
AGE FIVE,
"I CAN KEEP IT, can't I?" I look up at mother's disinterested expression, silently begging her to say yes. With mother, you never know what you're going to get. Sometimes I think she's in a good mood, but just asking for a hug might set her off. Last time it wasn't pretty. I'd bruised my knee and wanted some comfort... I don't know why. Sometimes I just want some human contact. She'd said yes, initially, but a second later she'd shoved me off her and thrown me to the floor, saying it's a sin for a son to touch his mother.
She is unpredictable like that. But I've learned to keep myself out of her presence, mostly because I don't want to be berated for sinning all the time. I don't even understand exactly what sin is, but mother says I do it. And considering her reaction, it must be really bad.