FORTY-FOUR |

dark by the time I set off back to the house, the heat of the day simmering into a sticky, uncomfortable warmth that crept up the back of your neck. I took the same track back, this time slower, guided by distant lights that hovered, dazzling, on the horizon. Preparations for tomorrow had already begun.

As I approached the house, looming shadowy structures came into view; billowing white tents half erected, twinkling lights strung up between them like criss-crossed washing lines. Voices carried through the dense air, male and loud, coordinating the construction of tomorrow's venues. Behind all the movement and noise, I saw figures standing on the porch, watching over everything.

When I got closer, I spotted Florence, her distant face recognisable only by the shock of red hair around it. Eventually I made out her smile and waved back at her, but my stomach churned and turned sour trying to digest the conversation I'd had with Cecelia. It made acid rise in my throat as I watched the delicacy of Florence's warm expression, knowing just how fragile it could be. Of course I was going to tell her.

"Where have you been?" Florence asked when I made it into earshot. "Isn't this incredible?"

I offered her a half-hearted smile, lips pressed together to hide the bile in my throat. "Yes, baby," I said honestly, kissing the top of her head, "it is."

She was too dazzled by the lights to notice my sickness.

**

Amber and I woke up early to go for a swim. It was only six in the morning, so the whole of the house was silent. Even at this time, as we crept out of the front door with towels tucked under our arms, the heat hit like a wall.

"Whew," Amber said, wafting at her face. "Does this place ever cool down?"

A chorus of cicadas erupted in an olive tree to our left, their high pitched drone breaking the steady silence of the morning.

Beyond the pool, rolling fields bathed in golden sunlight stretched into the distance, their endless expanse broken far off by a cluster of rocky hills. Not too far away, grand marquees stood like circus tents bleached white by the sun, all occupants having long since deserted them.

The reality was that in a few hours the tents would be flooded with people – the Lucchese clan, distant family members, old friends. All of them here to celebrate Dina Lucchese's birthday.

Amber and I laid our towels out on sunloungers and then slipped gratefully into the cool relief of the pool. We swam for a while, causing ripples to lap at the edge as our movements stirred the water. Eventually, the cicadas settled down, leaving a dull buzz ringing in our ears.

"This is weird, you know," Amber said. "Crazy."

I swam to the edge of the pool and came to rest beside her, arms outstretched across the warm tiles as they dried in the sun. "Which part?" I requested. "My life hasn't felt real for a long time."

She chewed on her lip, frowning into the distance contemplatively. "That I'm here, at the Don's house. That you're probably going to have the Don's kids someday."

"That's a long way off," I said abruptly.

"Is it?"

Amber laid her head down on the edge of the pool, body still half in the water, so she could look me in the eye. She had a dreamy, faraway expression on her face. "I don't know so much," she shrugged. "Not so long ago you were just another working girl like me."

I didn't want to admit that seeing Arturo with his family had made the thought of us having our own cross my mind more than once. I raised an eyebrow to distract Amber, "what about you, huh? Don't you want to settle down?"

"Me?!" she snorted.

"Is it such a crazy idea?"

"Honey! Crazy? It's ridiculous, absurd, absolutely out of your mind insane. I love sex way too much for that."

"And being in a relationship would stop you having sex?"

"Honey." Amber was looking at me as though I'd left my brain somewhere in New York. "You know what happens when you get married, start popping kids out? You get all...dull. Lacking spark, you know? Sex drive as low as your will to live when baby starts screaming at three in the morning." She paused to think for a moment before concluding, "nuh-uh. Not for me."

"I don't think that's necessarily true."

"You tell me that when you've got one of your own little rug-rats."

"Well, that won't be happening any time soon."

The air suddenly cooled around us as a shadow fell over our bodies. I felt my heart constrict, goosebumps prickling the back of my bare neck. Amber shot me an anxious glance, chewing her lip, clearly sensing the same thing that I did.

"Either of you ladies seen my wife?"

Seeing Salvo for the third time in my life struck just as much fear into my heart as the first time. A dull stab of phantom pain rippled over the scar tissue on my arm from when he'd shot me in the back of his car.

"Not today," I said between my teeth. "She was around yesterday."

"Hmm." He crouched down, his large stature still intimidating though compressed. "The thing is, she's been missing for a while."

"Really?" I feigned innocence.

"A long while. A month."

"Wow, I'm surprised you didn't notice sooner, Salvo." My cocky attitude was unwise but I was driven by a deep-set anger towards him. Sophia felt like a sister to me, and the things Salvo had done to her made a storm rise in my throat.

If possible, his expression grew even darker. A particularly large vain in his temple looked like it might pop.

"If I find out where she has been," he grunted, breathing heavily, "who she has been with, do you know what I'm gonna do?"

I turned to Amber, stifling a fake-yawn. "I'm tired, Amber, aren't you?"

"Exhausted," she said, laying her head down against the pool tiles. "You know what? I could actually sleep right now."

"Me too."

We both closed our eyes and waited until we heard the heavy retreat of Salvo's footsteps. He couldn't touch us here, not this weekend, anyway. He wouldn't dare, and that gave us power over him.

When I cracked open one eye I saw Amber grinning at me. "I never liked that bastard."

"You know him?"

"He came to Art's casinos once or twice while I was working," she explained. "Always thought he owned the whole place, thought he could do whatever he wanted with us girls until Arturo put him in his place." Amber tightened her lips for a second, as though she'd sucked on a sour sweet. "Plus, he came to Arturo's birthday party"

I felt myself wince at the painful memory, unable to stop my mouth pulling into a grimace. I was praying Salvo wouldn't make the same sort of a scene during Dina's birthday.

"We should probably go in," I said, feeling suddenly cold despite the morning heat.

I wanted to find Sofia before Salvo did.

**

I didn't even bother to change before looking for Sofia; I reached her room wrapped in a towel as my hair dripped water down the back of my neck. When I noticed her door had been left ajar, I felt my heart shoot into my throat.

Just as I had suspected, her room was empty, meaning she had either been confronted by Salvo already or it was simply a matter of time. I had wanted to warn her, prepare her for the darkness his presence created so she wouldn't be as startled as Amber and I had been. Was it already too late, I wondered?

"Florence."

I jumped at first but then the calming hand of Arturo fell onto my bare shoulder. I turned around. "Hi."

"You were looking for my sister?" he asked. Then, when his eyes took in my full appearance, "Why are you only wearing a towel?! Porca miseria, Florence, put some clothes on!"

Arturo's insistence that his eyes be the only ones to see me half-dressed was momentarily cute, until I remembered the knot that had tied itself in my stomach. "Salvo is here," I said quickly, swallowing. "He confronted Amber and I by the pool, I figured he'd come looking for her and I wanted to give her a warning."

"Do not worry about Sofia," Arturo said, holding both my shoulders in his sturdy hands. He leaned his head closer to mine, imploring me to listen. "Nothing can happen while we're here, okay? Salvo is powerless when my father is around. The most helpful thing you can do is pretend that nothing has happened, Sofia didn't stay with us, you barely even know her now that he's here."

"But-"

"Florence." Arturo took a long, deep breath. I watched his eyelashes dip, the shadow beneath them deepening. "Do this for me. Please."

"Okay," I nodded. "Okay, fine, I'll pretend."

**

By mid-afternoon, the celebrations were well underway and it was obvious that most guests were feeling more than a little drunk. Waiters dressed in cream suits circled the inside of the tents, offering glasses of golden champagne on silver platters.

"You know," Amber said beside me, swiping a flute of alcohol from a passing waiter, "I never thought people really did this. The whole, silver tray, champagne-on-tap thing."

"Normal people don't," I replied.

We were stood at the back of one of the tents, watching a string quartet gracefully tease a melody from their instruments. Like most guests, they too were dressed in white – it was difficult to spot people when they all looked the same. Not that that stopped me from trying. As Amber kept up a string of observations in the background, I craned my neck eagerly.

"What are you looking for?" she sighed when she had had enough of my distractedness.

I gave her a sheepish glance, embarrassed to have been caught. The truth was that I wanted to find Sofia. I felt like I owed it to her to make sure everything was okay, even though Arturo had warned me not to get involved. I needed to see that she was alright.

"You're looking for his sister, aren't you?" I didn't need to answer; Amber already knew. "You know you can't do anything to help her, right? Not now, anyway."

"I know," I sighed. "That doesn't mean I don't wish I could."

"Well, I don't know about you, but the music in this tent is making me feel sleepy. Let's check out another one." Amber didn't wait for my approval; she threw back the remainder of her champagne and grabbed my hand.

Between each tent, a wooden walkway had been set up, lined at each side by beautiful ceramic candle holders. With the strings of fairy lights crisscrossing above, the whole place would look incredible when it got dark.

Amber and I headed down the central walkway, eager to discover what each tent held inside. When we pulled back the doorway of one, a line of white leather massage beds could be seen, a masseuse working oil into the tanned back of a stranger. Relaxing music played in the background, the sound of trickling water and tinkling bells.

In the next tent, a yoga class was being held, a large brass gong reminding the participants not to think of anything, to empty their minds. I wished I could empty my mind of the anxiety that was whirring in it.

When we finally found a tent filled with a delicious spread of food, Amber pulled me inside. "I'm starving," she moaned, grabbing a plate and immediately filling it with whatever she could get her hands on.

"You're probably just drunk," I smirked, looking up at the high fabric ceiling of the tent and wondering how much effort this event must have taken to arrange.

"I'm not...Florence."

The tone of Amber's voice dragged my eyes straight to hers and as soon as I looked across the room I knew why. First I saw Salvo, my gaze immediately drawn to his large stature and the menacing tone of his voice. He was leaning against one of the tent's supports, body language relaxed and open as he talked animatedly to a small woman with long, golden hair. She looked young – maybe twenty – and judging by the way she smiled and leaned into his side, she was interested.

"Who is she?" Amber asked, eyes narrowed as she stared at the girl.

"Trouble, by the looks of it," I replied, noticing Sofia sat on her own at the end of the long trestle table.

"Art told you to stay away," my best friend hissed, folding her arms. Clearly she was too efficient at reading my mind.

"I'm not getting involved." I gave my friend a pointed look.

"No," she said sternly. "No way."

"Amber, please," I pleaded.

She held out for a second longer before glancing to Salvo and crumbling. "Fine. But only for you."

"Oh, Sofia!" Amber exclaimed, making her way over to Sofia as if she had only just noticed her presence. "I just saw Dina – she told me to tell you she's looking for you."

"What? Oh, yes, I told her I'd help her pick an outfit for this evening." Sofia shot us both a grateful glance and quickly escaped from the tent.

I walked over to Amber, who had started stuffing prawns into her mouth. She scowled at me but couldn't speak for the food.

"You didn't really get involved." I held my hands up. "You just passed on a message."

Unfortunately, Salvo and the blonde woman now seemed to be even closer, with what appeared to be her friend making her way over.

"Let's get out of here," I said.

"Gladly."

We found Sofia outside the tent, pulling a cigarette out of her purse. She wore a cream jumpsuit that looked incredible on her slight figure and that same wine-red lipstick that I had come to associate with her.

"Thank you for that," she said as we got closer. "I thought I was going to be sick."

"Me too," Amber said quickly, then looked away.

Everyone seemed to be surprised by her words, especially Sofia, but when she broke into a smile I could tell that some of the tension between the two had diminished.

"Want a cigarette?" Sofia asked, holding the pack out to Amber who took one.

"Thanks."

"Florence?"

I shook my head. "I'm good. Looks like the birthday girl is making her way over."

Dina was walking in our direction down the walkway, a beautifully fitted white dress billowing out around her. She wore a large-brimmed fedora hat on her head – the kind that made her look like a Vogue model on a shoot. It was obvious where Arturo had inherited his good looks from.

"Happy birthday, Dina," we all chorused. I noticed Sofia quickly throw her cigarette away and stub it out.

"Buon compleanno mamma." The two women embraced, then Dina offered Amber and I a warm smile.

"It is time for the match," she announced, glancing at the sun which had just passed its peak. "The horses are ready."

"Match?" I asked.

"Horses?" Amber exclaimed.

"Every year for madre's birthday we host a polo match," Sofia explained. "This year, Rome's team are playing Milano."

"You like polo?" I asked Dina. I had done a fair amount of horse riding when I was a little girl but I'd never tried it with sticks and balls before.

"Madre was an excellent polo player in her youth," Sofia said proudly.

"I didn't know that. Does Arturo know how to play?"

"My son always loved horses – we could never get him to ride with a saddle, though. He used to give me a heart attack the way he galloped around the estate!" Dina chuckled, taking her fedora off and using it to fan her face. "Anyway, help me get everyone to the field."

As we set off to herd the guests, Amber and I shared a glance that looked almost identical. It felt like I was learning new things about the don's past every day. Maybe this weekend was exactly what we needed after all.