Total pages in book: 72
Estimated words: 68628 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 343(@200wpm)___ 275(@250wpm)___ 229(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 68628 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 343(@200wpm)___ 275(@250wpm)___ 229(@300wpm)
“Oh, yeah. You can say that again.” I need a cannoli. “Yup.”
I think about what she says for a minute. I never really thought about it before because I never thought about marriage or commitment or, frankly, anything even remotely resembling monogamy.
"How much do you know about him?" Starla asks quietly, suddenly very interested in a slender silver ring on her right hand.
"How much do you?" I retort.
"Well. Nonna has been giving me cooking lessons. She doesn't speak a lot of English, but she speaks enough.” Starla’s eyes dance at me playfully even as she looks a bit sheepish. “And… maybe I asked her a little bit about Adriano?"
Now that gets my attention. Mario walks by with the pastries. I take a cannoli in each hand and start licking the filling out of one. "Let's hear it."
Starla bites her lip and clams up, an impish smile creeping slowly across her face. What a little brat.
"Starla," I say warningly. "You are not going to dangle a baited hook about my new husband in front of me and not expect me to bite."
"It's not that," she says. "It's that we're not alone. I'm not sure how Sergio would feel if he overheard me."
"Then keep your voice low," I say in a little bit of a whisper. "I would say that we could find someplace private, but believe me when I tell you, that ain't happening."
She laughs. "Tell me about it. I can hardly use the bathroom in this place without somebody following me. Ever since you guys got married things have been ridiculous. I haven't even been able to go into a bookstore. I haven't seen any of my friends and Sergio even asked me to stop having meetings with my support group."
I know that Starla started a support group for people that had suffered the way she and Eden had, but I didn't know Sergio made her stop. Interesting.
She laughs at the shock on my face. "It's fine, though. I do get to spend time with my best friend." She perks up a little bit when she looks at Timeo.
Oh, Lordy. Her best friend, eh?
"Alright. Now, spill it. Just talk in a low voice and if anyone comes near us, we change the subject.”
“Alright,” she says, licking her lips. “So… Adriano had it rough. He slept on the streets. He was teased and humiliated by the other children when he was put in social services for being homeless. Did you know they had specific last names given to orphaned children? Esposito means exposed. Abbandonata means abandoned. Proietto, ‘thrown away.’” She bites her lip, her voice wavering a bit. She and Adriano share this much. “Anyway, Nonna said the day that she met him he'd been beaten terribly for trying to defend a girl who was robbed by a gang. He was younger than I am, and he was all alone."
I had imagined he was mistreated. I didn't know he spent any time in an orphanage, but I don't know much about Italy and how they treat people, especially where he was.
"He had to scavenge for food, and he was hungry all the time. Apparently, the gang that had taken the money from that girl was Italian mafia. Not Montavio, mind you. But one of their rivals. They blacklisted him everywhere. He couldn't go back to a shelter. The local restaurants couldn't even give him a scrap of food."
My mouth hangs open. "Why?"
"It was hard to understand what Nonna was saying, but I think they were trying to bully him into joining them. He can be ruthless, he's a fighter.” I stifle a snort. You don’t say? “They say that sometimes the most loyal people are the ones that are rescued. I think it may have been a type of manipulation?"
I nod, piecing it all together.
"I asked her for more details and Tosca overheard me. She told me he was desperate for food, water and shelter, so he had to resort to stealing to survive. But the only people he would steal from were the mafia gang that was after him."
My body tenses. I hate hearing this but I need to.
"He went to a policeman for help, but the policeman was friends with the mob. He hit him and told him to leave. Adriano couldn't get access to a shelter or anything."
"That's awful," I say, sick to my stomach. "The poor boy."
"He got desperate. He started selling drugs on the street. Then one night everything he owned was stolen."
What does that do to a person? Between losing his parents and being bullied and mistreated. No wonder he's so loyal to Sergio. No wonder he doesn't trust anyone.
No wonder he likes control.
“Nonna found him on the street. She likes to feed people, you know. And she was very loyal to her husband. They took very good care of Adriano."