“Yeah, she’s fine. Listen, don’t worry. I’m sure everything is fine.”
I walk with him, but I can’t help but worry. I want to ask him if it’s about Miguel, but if they don’t know about him, and if I ask, then they will learn about him, and that will make whatever situation this is worse.
I get into the car with him. Two guards sit in front of me, facing us. They sent the family car. That’s probably a good thing.
I look at Joey, and he gives me a hesitant smile.
I smile back and settle back. I hate waiting. I’ve never been a patient person, to begin with. I get that from my mother.
We pull into my father’s driveway, and the door is opened for me. I walk up the stairs and into the house. Joey comes in behind me as we approach my other brother, Gustavo. I hug him, but he’s very stiff with me.
“What’s wrong?” I ask.
“You should know,” he says coldly, “Father wants to see you in the study now.”
I nervously follow him, Joey behind me, and I walk into my father’s study. My father is sitting at his desk, a cigar in one hand and a drink in the other. He sets the cigar down and looks at me gravely.
“Bella, my child. How could you?” he stands up, setting his drink down. I stand there awkwardly and want to ask what he means, but he doesn’t give me a chance.
“I let you go to the school of your choosing, outside of our territory, and you fraternize with a fucking Rossi child,” he raises his voice as he speaks. “Have you no loyalty to your family?”
“Pa,” I begin to say, “I can explain.”
“Explain? Explain to Gustavo why he saw you with the boy all over you on campus, kissing you and touching you like some common troia.”
I swallow hard, tears forming in my eyes. “Pa, he isn’t a bad person. He is kind to me, and he treats me well. Please, if you would just meet him.”
“Meet him? Meet an enemy of our family because you couldn’t keep your legs closed. No, this ends now, Kira Gabriella Sorvino. You will not be going back to that school. My security will collect your things, and I will decide where you will finish your education if I decide you can be trusted to have one.”
“My grades haven’t fallen; we study together and work hard to support each other. Please, Pa, I’m in love with him. Please don’t do this.”
“You love him? You love this, bastardo? This piece of shit that would wipe your cousin’s face in dog shit? No, you are never to see anyone from the Rossi family again. You’d be lucky if I don’t move you out of New York.”
“Pa, no, please.” I start to sob. It might be the hormones; I don’t know. “Please, we’re planning a family together.”
The room goes silent, and my father’s voice is barely a whisper, “You’re pregnant with this filth’s child?”
“Yes, please, he will be a good father and provide for our family,” I plead.
“You are a disgrace. You speak as though my brother, the Don of the Sorvino family, would not provide for you. As though he would cast us aside. Who are you? If it were not against my catholic faith, I would have you abort the child.”
“Pa!” I gasp.
“I will not spit in God’s face like you spit in ours. But I will be dead before I see you raising a child in the Rossi family. You will leave for Italy immediately. You will be accompanied and someone will make sure you are settled with your aunts there. You are to have no contact with New York. No one is to know why you have left or that you have left at all.”
I sob, “Please, Pa, I’m a grown woman.”
“While you are in this family, you will abide by our rules,” he screams. “Gustavo, take her. She can buy whatever she needs there.”
I sob as the securtiy takes my book bag from me, and then my upper arm, dragging me out of the room. My father turns his back on me as I call for him.
Present Day
Miguel stands up from the bed without a word and walks out.
Chapter 24 - Miguel
This.