Chapter 4

The sound of three voices gathered downstairs, singing "Happy Birthday," drifted up through the floor.

Chiara clapped her hands, giggling, thrilled.

I shut the door and sealed those voices outside.

The next day, I took Gemma to the amusement park, one of the few places in the city that belonged to no Family, where no button meant anything.

I had just brought her down off the Ferris wheel when I spotted Lorenzo.

He was standing in front of the ice cream cart, bent at the waist, holding out a rainbow cone to Chiara.

Chiara rose up on her toes to take it, stuck out her tongue for a big lick. "Thank you, Papa. You have some too, it's so good!"

Rosalind stood beside them, holding up her phone to take pictures.

Rosalind saw me first.

She tilted her head. "After we got home last night, Chiara kept going on and on about wanting to come to the amusement park."

"Her papa's never around, you know. Nothing I could do but trouble my dear brother Lorenzo to bring her."

I looked down at Gemma.

She was staring at the rainbow cone in Chiara's hand, then up at Lorenzo, and the light in her eyes was fading, little by little.

She didn't say a word. Her small fist found the strawberry hairclip at her collar and closed around it. She only gripped my hand tighter.

This time, she didn't call out for her papa.

I lifted my head and looked straight at Rosalind, taking up her words.

"Rosalind, do you not have a husband? Does Chiara not have a father? Do you really have to keep stealing other people's husbands, other people's fathers?"

The smile froze on Rosalind's face.

Her gaze flicked sideways for half a second, gauging who stood near enough to hear. Then her eyes went red, her lips trembling, a sob in her voice. "Adriana... how can you say that about me? Do you have any idea what I go through with my husband?"

"Salvatore hits me, he curses at me, and now he won't even come home... It's just me and Chiara, and I have to carry everything alone..." "Lorenzo is the only brother I have. If you won't let me turn to him, who else do I have?"

Lorenzo's brows knotted the moment he saw her tears.

He turned to me, irritation plain in his voice. "What are you making a scene about now? Don't you know what she's dealing with? Married to an enforcer like that?"

"A man like Blackwood, raising a kid on her own, how hard that is, and you, her sister-in-law, can't show a little understanding?"

I looked at him, and this man felt so like a stranger that my chest went cold. I was about to fire back when Gemma tugged at my hand.

"Mama, don't be mad. Let's go. I want to ride the white horse. Let's go over there."

Chiara threw herself into Lorenzo's arms. "Papa! I want to ride that horse too! That biggest white one!"

I swallowed the anger burning in me and took Gemma over.

Lorenzo, carrying Chiara, came toward the carousel entrance too, Rosalind right behind them.

Once they were inside the ride area, Chiara shoved Gemma, darted ahead, then turned back and waved at Lorenzo. "Papa, hurry! Ride with me!"

Lorenzo shot me a look, tossed out a "Quit making a scene here," and turned to follow her.

Gemma gazed up at me, longing in her eyes.

I crouched down and smiled at her. "It's okay. Mama will ride with you."

When the carousel started turning, Gemma picked a little brown horse, and I stood beside her, steadying her waist.

Chiara sat on the biggest white horse up front, Lorenzo standing at her side, one hand on the saddle, the other hovering loosely at her back.

Rosalind stood outside filming on her phone, calling out to Chiara. "Look at Mama! Give me a smile! Look at Mama with Papa..."

Just as the last word left her mouth, the huge horse lurched hard to the left, and the whole structure came crashing down.

Screams erupted everywhere.

Gemma pitched off the little brown horse, and the massive wooden body of it slammed down toward her in an instant.

Beside her, Chiara's white horse toppled too.

Chiara was flung half a yard clear, landing on the padded floor, wailing.