Page 27 of Death Of A Sinner

“Yeah, seems that way.” She nods her head. “I’m Esther.”

“I’m Luciano,” he tells her.

ChapterNineteen

My hand squeezes Aria’s under the table. This is fucking awkward. I don’t know what my brother was thinking when he set up this dinner. I know we need to make an effort to get to know our sister, but surely there is a better way.

“So, Esther, what are you hoping to do after school?” Ellie asks in an attempt to break the silence.

“I’m not a hundred percent sure yet. I think I’m going to try out stripping for a bit. I hear they make decent money.” Esther shrugs.

“Fucking hell.” Tommy shakes his head.

“Relax. I’m joking,obviously.” She laughs.

“It wouldn’t matter if you wanted to become a stripper,” Gio tells her.

“Oh,youI like. You believe in women being able to do what they want with their bodies?” she asks him.

“Women, yes. You, not a fucking chance. It wouldn’t matter because there isn’t a strip club in this city that would give you a job.” He smirks.

“Meh, Australia’s a big country,” Esther replies, unfazed.

“You think our reach is limited to this city?” I ask her.

“Okay, she’s joking, and she doesn’t know about your family business,” Mary tells me.

I lift an eyebrow. “What exactlyhaveyou told her?”

“Nothing,” Esther answers for her. “But I’m not an idiot. I know who you all are. But just so you know, I don’t need five big brothers getting in my way of life.”

“Do you have a boyfriend?” Daisy chimes in.

“I have three. We have a reverse harem thing going on,” Esther says with a straight face.

“Esther, stop,” Tommy grunts. “She doesn’t date.”

“That he knows of,” Esther adds, and I’m suddenly glad I didn’t have sisters growing up.

“Okay, what are you into? Any hobbies?” I try to steer the conversation in another direction.

“What’s with the twenty questions?” she counters.

“We’re trying to get to know you.”

“Why? What’s the point? I vote we just go back to doing things the way we were before,” she says.

“Well, the cat’s out of the bag. It’s not our fault we didn’t know about you,” I tell her.

“It’s not my fault your father beat my mother for years before kicking her out onto the street half-dead,” Esther says. “This—us pretending to be one big happy family—is bullshit.”

“Esther, stop.” Mary looks from Esther to Gio, the worry written all over her face. “She didn’t mean it. She doesn’t mean to be disrespectful.”

“Let her say what she wants. She should get it out. Besides, I like her fire.” Gio shrugs, and Mary stares back at him like she’s seeing a ghost.

“You look like him,” she whispers. “The old him.”

“What do you meanthe old him?” Marcel asks.

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