“I won’t bore you with family politics, but we’re on shaky ground right now,” Aurora told her. “The familia lost three of its important shipments over the last two months. Rival groups would close in like sharks that have scented blood in the water.”
Aurora used a good analogy. The same night their mother died, Lorenzo lost two of his important allies.
Sofia’s stomach lurched. By shipments, Sofia knew Aurora meant drugs and guns.
Growing up, the two of them privately liked to pretend their father was a normal businessman. Deep down, they had always known his legal businesses were just a front.
Lorenzo reared them both to be excellent liars. If anyone asked Sofia what her father did for a living, she always gave scripted answers.
After her mother died, Aurora and she were instructed to tell their classmates and teachers their mother had died of a heart attack. For a while, Sofia believed those lies as well. It was a lot easier than confronting the awful truth. That her father’s enemies killed their mother to hurt him.
“I don’t want to hear this,” Sofia said.
“I know.” Aurora expelled a sigh. “I would prefer to leave you out of this as much as possible, but I need you to understand the reason I agreed to marry Maxim Semenov.”
Hearing her sister utter that monster’s name sent shivers down Sofia’s spine. She knew who Maxim was. Everyone in Giland City did.
The press frequently mentioned him in the papers. He owned a couple of companies, and he was frequently seen on the news hanging out with politicians and actors and actresses.
Recently, Sofia had seen a picture of Maxim in the newspapers. He was standing with the mayor and the newly elected chief of police.
Maxim was an accomplished liar. A black-haired and steel-eyed devil in a ten-thousand-dollar suit.
Like her father, Maxim’s many businesses were a front. Maxim was the new Pakhan of the Semenov Bratva. Rumor had it Maxim murdered his father, the previous Pakhan, in cold blood. His father was just one name on a long kill list.
“I hear he’s a beast,” Sofia whispered. “Aurora, he killed his last wife. I don’t want you to end up dead.”
“That’s just a rumor. There’s no evidence of that,” Aurora said with a laugh.
She said those words in a dismissive tone, but Sofia could always read her sister like an open book. Aurora’s left eye twitched. A telltale sign she wasn’t being truthful.
Marrying Maxim unnerved her, but she would never admit it, even to Sofia.
“He listed his last wife as missing,” Sofia went on. “But her bones could be resting under the floorboards in his bedroom for all we know. She’s just one of the many bodies he’s buried.”
“I’m used to dealing with men like him,” Aurora said dismissively, and Sofia knew she meant Lorenzo.
The two of them could pretend all they wanted that Lorenzo still possessed a shred of decency in him, but they couldn’t ignore the mountain of corpses Lorenzo left behind.
“What if you’re out of your league? Have you even spoken to him in person, met him?” Sofia demanded.
Aurora shook her head. She looked like she always did. So put-together that it appeared nothing could faze her, even an arranged marriage to a brute who might make her life a complete nightmare.
“We arranged a lunch meeting this Saturday at one of his newly opened restaurants,” Aurora said. “The press will also be there. The next day, our wedding announcement will be in the papers.”
Every word that came out of Aurora’s mouth sounded so stiff, so formal. Aurora didn’t even know this man’s character or what he was really like.
Was she really going to throw away her entire future just to appease their father?
Sofia understood the familia had plenty of people under their employ, but if their father was supposedly good at what he did, then he didn’t need to give his only loyal daughter away to a stranger.
“But Aurora—” Sofia began.
“We’re here,” Aldo announced, interrupting her.
He got out of the car and held the door open for Aurora. Sounds of honking cars and conversations filled Sofia’s ears.
“This discussion is over,” Aurora said.