f change is to plunge into it, mo

an

------

Liv-the Benedetti women, in short. Nico was behind the wheel, and we all piled into the Cadillac, utterly spent and done. I was particularly drained. Mother's slap hadn

ears, still rang with that raw, angry edge. "Y

here'd be no way to prove it wasn't a lie. To avoid more embarrassment, I just let her go on about how Tiziano would look down on me in our m

t a gazillion time

, she certainly did. From not putting up a fight against the mistress's arrangement of living down the same street as us, to letting father handpick her daughte

e the deepest self-inflicted misery. Even Aunt Rosa, who was k

controllably. Vi had stepped in to try to calm her down-not because she agreed with

mother. The fact that her reaction had traveled this far, though, meant my news had spread like wildfire. As expected, Amalia had ru

t resisting protocol. A little over eleven years ago, Zita had tried to resist marrying Ginevra's cousin. It ended with her then-boyfriend

Zita-I knew deep down that I would never yield to protocol. I could feel my defiance even now as we sat still in the car heading

house-and whenever more than one Benedetti could keep a

her to share in my misery. She was the type who only focused on her own issues, particularly her fertility problems. I did

ed. She pulled me into her arms and rested her head on mine. Despite being a bit larger, making

, plead for mercy on Jake's behalf, and hoped that my situation-si

because my day had ended with a slap from

him suffer for

down to. I couldn't reach Jake-my phone had been confiscated. My laptop was here, but I'd deleted his number and blocked him, so I had

olorful room that now seemed dull to me. For three days straight, the only people I'd se

t eaten

tti. Punishment for what I'd done to Jake. I deserved every bit of it. At

t I'd disgraced myself. She might've even dragged my fat

ality. I was tempted to claw at the wall

blivion-this was more of a stark realization. I'd killed a man. Saying I "caused a man his life" felt

my door creaked open. It wa

s my

nted, and ruthless as when he had walked into the house that night. His brows were still

s Amalia had claimed she saw more. Why would he end a man's

that." His voice was cold, steely, and lethal. He began pacing in front of me while I sat on the floor, hugging myself, trying to hold back

sn't

y. "I remember the first time your mother hit you. You were twelv

. Why was it okay for the men to g

tion, even something as small as chewing too loudly." He paused, slipping his hands into his dark brown trousers. "Now, fast forward to when y

ays, your impulses run ahead of you. You jump in headfirst, then scramble for excuses when you're called out. So no, I'm

with tha

e more time, if I have to remind you about respect one more time, Alessandra Benedetti, I'll string you up and let the blood rus

slammed b

nd rattling the half-open windows. He'd said "grieving," and that was all I neede

d likely plaster missing person posters around for years, until they finally gave up, moved cities to h

they'd burrowed so deep that all I could hear was the name of my unsuspecting victim. All I cou

ter to comfort me-likely after being told I was allowed visitors-I felt completely numb. At some point, I must've falle

enough to forget the events of the last six hours-until

was close to midnight. I didn't know if it was the lonely darkness of the hour or th

u

choed in my throbbing head,

I could almost taste it, fee

uld

d. Rig

so merciful. I'd make sure they never found me. I had enough money in my account to disappear. I

t would just slow me down. When running from a famil

and a black hoodie. I threw them on and shoved

I mean everywhere. Instead, I left my jogging shoes by my door. I scratched at my eyes, keeping up the charade of a sleepwalker to t

knowing he kept spare keys in a

into Nico's room to find a lighter. Cosimo didn't smoke due to

destroy something valuable. So I decided to create chaos in the living room-the center of attention, the biggest spac

first to make tea and g

oned in the anteroom, while the final guard

e room t

nd then headed back to my room to get my shoes. I hoped the

scene as the house erupted into chaos. Pretending to be one of the star

xtinguishing the flames to notice m

iced and hid near the garden. The guards at th

ouldn't have

raced to the gate. The first three attempts were futile, but on the fou

tic call-I was already far from home, far from the North Side of Chicago, lost in the d