He Took His Childhood Friend Away, So I Came Back a Mafia Heiress novel · Chapter 21 of 24

Chapter 21: Sabrina Alone

Gemma's POV

Old Mr. Costa stood on the landing above the tailor shop with a suitcase in each hand.

He wore his old driver's coat, and his hat was crushed in his fingers.

Sabrina stood two steps below him.

She wore the pink coat, and her hair had come out of its twist, and her face was white.

"Signora Rinaldi," he said.

"Mr. Costa. Come in."

"No. Forgive me. I'll say it here." His voice shook.

"I drove your father to church every Sunday for nine years."

"He gave my girl a dollar for the peaches she stole from his tree."

Sabrina made a small sound.

"I did not know," he said. "I swear it on my wife's grave. I did not know what she was paid for."

"I believe you."

"I can't have her in my house."

"Papa."

"I raised you better," he said, without turning. "I sat up with your mother, and I raised you better."

Down in the shop the tailor had stopped his machine.

Three customers stood at the bottom of the stairs with their coats over their arms, looking up.

Nobody pretended not to listen.

"Please," Sabrina said. "Papa, where will I go?"

"You will go to the prosecutor on Tuesday, and you will say it all." He set the suitcases down on the landing, one beside the other, with great care. "After that, I don't know."

He put his hat on, and he looked at me, and I saw he was crying.

"I'm sorry, Signora."

He went down the stairs past his daughter without touching her.

The shop door opened and closed.

Sabrina stood on the step and shook.

Then she turned to me, and I watched her put the face back on, the warm one, the one with the soup.

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