The moment she entered, Serafina set the basket of eggs on the kitchen counter without ceremony and went straight to Liliana, who was seated at the long dining table with a textbook open before her and a glass of sparkling water catching the chandelier light.
"Liliana, your birthday is tomorrow! What do you want as a present? Your godmother will make sure to get it for you!"
We had been through thick and thin together, always as close as sisters. That closeness had been sealed years ago in front of a baptismal font, holy water still drying on an infant's forehead, a vow spoken before God and the Family that Serafina would guard and guide this child. She now ran her fingers through Liliana's dark hair with a tenderness that spoke volumes, the careful, reverent touch of a woman who knew exactly whose blood ran beneath that skin.
Liliana returned the gesture with a sweet, polite smile, her fingers drifting briefly to the St. Christopher medal at her throat before settling back on the table. "Whatever it is, if it's from my godmother, I'll love it!"
Serafina's smile widened, her expression turning even more pleased, though beneath the warmth something sharper lived, a possessiveness that curdled the air if you knew where to look.
"Liliana is so clever and sweet, unlike that useless child of mine, who's nothing but a burden!"
She shot a venomous glare at her daughter, who still stood by the door, shoulders drawn in as though she could fold herself small enough to vanish. Then Serafina crossed the room in three quick strides and grabbed Arianna roughly by the ear, yanking her inside. The girl stumbled over the threshold, her worn shoes scuffing the polished stone floor.
"Get in here, you worthless fool! What are you standing there for, like some kind of useless guard dog?"
"Just looking at you makes me furious!"
Without warning, she slapped her daughter hard across the face, the sound sharp and flat in the high-ceilinged room, sending Arianna crashing to the floor. The girl's head slammed into the corner of the marble coffee table with a sickening thud, and blood began to pour from the gash on her forehead, bright against the white stone.
Liliana flinched, startled by the violence, her hand rising instinctively to the medal at her throat and pressing it flat against her skin.
But my daughter didn't cry or protest; she swiftly rose to her feet, the pain familiar to her, and wiped the blood from her forehead with the heel of her palm. I watched her right hand curl at her side, her thumbnail driving into the flesh of her opposite palm until a pale crescent mark appeared there, a silent ritual I had witnessed more times than I could count.
With quiet endurance, she met my sworn family-sister's gaze, her eyes timid, and murmured, "I'm sorry, Mom. I know I was wrong."
Apologizing after the beatings had become second nature to her.
It had happened time and again in this very house, under chandeliers that cost more than most families earned in a year, on floors polished by staff who knew better than to speak of what they saw. The compound's walls kept many secrets; this was simply one more stain absorbed into the silence.
Seeing her composure, Salvatore immediately reached for the first-aid kit kept in the sideboard drawer. His hand, which had been turning the signet ring slowly while he listened from the far end of the room, went completely still the instant Arianna's head struck the table. He crossed the floor without a word, the weight of his presence enough to make Serafina take a single step back, though her expression betrayed no remorse.
As he tended to the wound with careful, practiced hands, pressing gauze to the gash, his eyes narrowed in fury and he spoke in a voice held low and level, the kind of quiet that preceded consequences. "How can a mother hit her own child like this, Serafina?"
She dismissed him with a wave, a cold smile settling on her lips. "She's nothing but a worthless brat."
"Look at her; she can't hold a candle to Liliana. She's lucky I haven't put her out of her misery."
The words hung in the room the way gunsmoke hangs after a shot, refusing to dissipate. I stood at the kitchen counter, my hands resting on a linen napkin. Slowly, deliberately, I began folding it into a perfect square, each corner pressed flat with exact, unhurried precision, because the alternative was to speak, and if I spoke now, eighteen years of silence would unravel in a single breath.
Without a second glance at her daughter, Serafina turned back to Liliana, her smile wide and bright, as though violence were merely a parenthetical she had already closed. "Liliana, I've already ordered your favorite cake from Ferrara's. Tomorrow, your godmother will bring it to celebrate your birthday!"
Her voice carried the lilt of celebration, but across the room, Arianna stood motionless with blood drying on her brow and her thumbnail still buried in her palm, and I folded the last corner of the napkin and set it down without a sound.
