Page 19 of Savage Claim

Gemma cooed. “It’s got to be isolating working for a family instead of at a clinic, huh?”

I nodded. “Yeah,” I said. “I don’t get to see my nursing friends as often.”Or ever.

“Is the family nice? That angry-looking hot guy treating you right?”

I chuckled. Angry-looking hot guy, huh? “Yeah, Lorenzo is great,” I said in all sincerity. I might be mad at the man more often than not, but I did love him. “He’s been a great…boss.”

“Is he doing any better?” she asked. “You never did tell me what was wrong with him.”

“I can’t tell you,” I pointed out. “It would be an invasion of privacy.”

Gemma nodded. “That’s right,” she said. “I forgot.”

“It’s a good thing you aren’t planning to go into medicine, huh?”

She giggled. “Hush.”

From somewhere behind Gemma, I heard: “Who are you talking to, honey?”

Gemma turned to look over her shoulder. “Mom! Say hello to Isabella!” She flipped the phone around so that I was looking at our mother, Grace, for the first time in years. We stared at each other, silent and awkward, for a stretch before I tried to paste on a smile.

“Hi…Mom,” I said.

Her mouth jerked into a semblance of a smile. “Hello,” she said stiffly. “How are you?”

“Fine,” I said with a little nod. “What about you?”

She just hummed as an answer, and then her eyes flicked to Gemma. “Finish up here, okay? We have that lunch with Ms. Fineman to get ready for.”

Gemma turned the phone back to her again. She was frowning now. I could hear our mother’s footsteps hurrying away. “I’m sorry,” she said. “I don’t know why she acts like that.”

I did, but I wasn’t going to say anything to Gemma. It wasn’t like Grace hated me or anything; she had simply chosen Gemma over me when she left Santino, and I could hardly blame her for that. I would rather saw off my own arm than have Gemma live through any of what our father put me through. My younger sister had always been the softer of the two of us. Growing up, she was quick to cry, quick to have her feelings hurt. She wouldn’t have survived under Santino.

The few times I had seen my mother, Grace had been stiff with me. I didn’t know for certain that she felt guilty for her choices,but I felt better thinking that she did regret her decisions, at least a little bit.

“It’s fine, Gem,” I told her.

“It’s not,” my sister insisted. “She could, at least, try with you.”

I couldn’t disagree with that, but… “Maybe it’s best if we let it go,” I told her. “I don’t hold any ill-will towards her. After dealing with Santino as long as she did, I think she deserves her peace.”

Gemma rolled her eyes and looked every bit her age. “She leftyouto deal with him all by yourself, but she acts like she’s the only one he ever hurt. That’s bullshit, Isabella.”

Her words made me wince. “Forget about it,” I said. “When are you heading back next week?”

“Wednesday,” she said. “I don’t start back to work for another week, though, so maybe we could have lunch?”

“I’ll ask?—”

Gemma’s eyes narrowed. “Ask? Why would you?”

“I just have to make sure I can get the time off,” I said soothingly.

“Oh.” She relaxed. “Well, text me when you know for sure.”

“I will.”

As we said our goodbyes, I heard a commotion from the foyer. “Isabella!” Lorenzo called. I hustled towards the front door and squealed when I saw Amalia in the foyer. Elio had an arm around her waist, supporting her.

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