Page 27 of Rosetti Family New York
He looks at me like I’ve said that trees are pink. “Where?”
“Home.”
He shakes his head, gloved hands in his pockets, and I wonder how much blood they’ve seen. “Leo said no.”
Emilio speaks then, a quiet smirk in his words. “I guess that’s a no, then.”
Heat rises to my face, anger and desperation, and I know they see it. I know they don’t care. “You can’t keep me here.”
Rafe shrugs, turning away. “Looks like we can.”
The cat is behind me again, rubbing against my leg, persistent little beast. “What is with this thing? It keeps rubbing and purring.” I kick it gently aside.
“It’s a cat,” Emilio says. “That’s kind of their deal.”
Carmela’s cat. It’s Carmela I need, not them, her softer heart is more likely to help me. I find her in the kitchen, three rooms over, talking to the staff.
A cook is at the stove, stirring marinara. Carmela picks at a loaf of fresh bread, tearing it apart piece by fluffy piece. “Don’t tell Papa,” she says. “He’ll give me a lecture on carbo-loading.” She swaps conspiratorial winks with the kitchen staff. This is her sanctuary, flour and sugar and laughter, and I imagine her brothers avoid it like the plague.
Her eyes go wide when she sees me. “Damn it. You caught me.” She wipes her face, swallowing down the evidence. Her voice is light, bouncy as a child’s balloon, but then she looks at me. Really looks. “Eleanor?”
I can’t pretend everything’s ok, can’t hide the panic in my voice.
“Carmela,” I say, sharper than I intend, “Juliet isn’t answering. I need you to take me there.”
She bites her lip. “Leo said—”
“I don’t care what Leo said.”
She nods, pretending to understand, pretending to be kind. At least she has the grace to look ashamed. “You have to stay. He’ll let you leave soon, hon, but he said not yet. I can’t go against his wishes. Sorry.”
In that moment, I hate her as much as I hate her brother. “She’s my sister. I just need to check on her, then I’ll come straight back. You can chaperone me the whole way. I think she might be in trouble. She’s family, Carmela, you understand that, right?”
“We’re your family now, hon.” The words cut deep, more cruel than Carmela could know. Her voice is soft, like she’s breaking bad news, and her eyes hold pity for me, but I don’t need her damn pity. I need her car. I need to be on my way to Juliet beforeit’s too late, need to know I haven’t doomed her to that man’s control.
Carmela doesn’t know what it’s like to give up everything you love. She doesn’t know what it’s like to live in a world where everything you care for can be taken in the blink of an eye. I was eight when I figured it out. Old enough to know it wasn’t just the cat. Old enough to know I was next. I thought I got free when I let father sell me, thought I won when I let him trade me like an unwanted pet. I thought a wedding band would keep them both at bay, my father and my husband.
Wrong about the first, maybe wrong about the second. How close will Leonardo keep me when he’s done with me?
She’s too innocent to get it, this girl, too used to a world where family actually means something. I hate her for a moment, as much as I’ve hated anyone, hate how safe she is, how secure.
The decision comes easily. My shoulders relax, and I give a long, slow sigh. “Fine, you’re right, I guess. I’ll wait till Leonardo gets home and talk to him about checking on Juliet.”
Carmela smiles like I’ve let her off the hook. I saunter back to the main rooms, acting casual, but I sashay right out a side door and into the garden. Only the cat sees me go, giving me a slow blink like we’re in on this together.
The afternoon air is warm, and as I dive into the wooded section of garden, I hear noises behind me. Men talking. Are they following me? They seem to be moving quickly, but I’m faster, fueled by fear and recklessness and the need to get to Juliet.
I run. Past the bare trees and high fences, skirting the cameras and guards. I reach the wall and clamber up, not looking back. Or down. I pull myself up and over. I fall, a graceless, lucky tumble, to the other side. To Juliet. To freedom.
14
Leonardo
Icatch Rafe's eye from across the room, and the way he looks at me tells me Eleanor's really done it. She broke my rule, and she did it on purpose. I can fucking tell. She might be the daughter of the biggest jewelry kingpin in New York, but she's my wife now. I clench my fists.
"She ran?" I ask, even though I know the answer.
Rafe doesn't look up from the document he's reading. "Gone."
