STOLEN SMILE [ GXG ]

CATERINA~JENNIFER

"The die is cast."

-Julius Caesar

**************

~CATERINA~

SOMETIMES THERE'S NOTHING TO SAY.

Sometimes words will only clutter a space already filled with an unpleasant truth.

I sat next to my sister on the couch while we both numbly watched an episode of The Office.

The funny moments, all the "That's what she saids" passed without even a smile.

My mamma had taken a bottle of wine and a Xanax up to her room, and she hadn't made an appearance below stairs in hours.

After we gave our vague statements to the police—we'd been schooled on how to talk to cops at age four—we came here and hadn't left the living room since. Our Uncle Marco and Dominic, his son, were both in the house, but since the incident at Francesco's, the rest of the males in the family had been absent.

Red.

It was now dripping somewhere other than my uncle's restaurant.

And I felt no remorse about it, just numb.

It was two a.m. when they decided to show up. The light in the living room flicked on, and the sound of steps and voices filled the foyer. Weight pressed down on my chest.

Papà came around the couch. His shirtsleeves were rolled up and his suit jacket was off, which he was never seen without, even on sweltering days like today. Not a good sign. I swallowed when I noticed the blood splattered against his white dress shirt.

Marco, Dominic, Manuel, Trevor,Bradley-who must have discharged himself from the hospital-Luca, and finally Jennifer filled the room. My gaze followed Jenn, but she didn't give me a glance. She still wore the same outfit from lunch, and her expression was unreadable as she leaned against the TV stand.

Her fiancée had been impregnated by another man. Any Made Person would take that as a personal and grave insult, but as she finally flicked a thoughtful gaze to me, for some reason I wondered if that was even what was on her mind.

Her fiancée and Seven men stared at my sister. They were going to try to intimidate the name right out of her.

"Phone," Papà barked.

Audrey sat cross-legged on the couch in the white dress she'd worn to lunch, while I'd changed into shorts and a tee. She didn't even look at our papà or acknowledge his demand. That had him grinding his teeth.

I grabbed her phone that sat on the couch between us, stood, and handed it to my papà. We'd already deleted every speck of Ryan's existence from it.

Papà handed it to Dominic, who began searching through it. "We'll find out who it is, Audrey, so you might as well tell us," Marco said. He was starting with a softer approach, but my papà wasn't going for it.

"You'll tell us, Audrey. Now. Or I swear to God you won't see daylight again."

My sister crossed her arms, her eyes flashing with defiance. That strategy would never work with Audrey, and Papà knew it. I thought one day he believed she would magically become compliant.

"We won't kill him," Marco said. "There's a baby involved, it's different." He didn't say it, but we all heard it: Different than me. Different than my situation.

When hope flickered in Audrey's gaze, my stomach twisted.

"He's lying," I blurted.

Angry male eyes shot to me.