Sweet Temptation novel · Chapter 7 of 24

Chapter 7: Sunday in South Philly

My father's house on Eleventh Street smelled of garlic and furniture polish, the way it always had.

I had grown up here.

I had learned to smile here, and to keep my mouth shut.

Vito parked at the curb and cut the engine.

"I'll wait," he said.

"You're not coming in?"

"Your father asked for you alone." His flat eyes met mine in the mirror. "I'll be right here."

The front door opened before I knocked.

Two of my father's men stood in the hall, and a third by the stairs.

They had known me since I was five, and none of them looked at me.

Aurelio Barsotti waited in the dining room at the head of the table, in a pressed gray suit, with a gold signet ring on his right hand.

He rose and kissed me on both cheeks.

"My beautiful girl. Married a week and glowing."

"Hello, Papa."

"Sit. Eat. Tell me everything."

The table was set for two.

He poured my wine himself and watched me not drink it.

"How is the house?"

"Big."

"The children?"

"Hurt," I said. "Like anyone would be."

He smiled, a soft sad smile, and I remembered that he'd smiled like that at my mother's funeral.

"And your husband?"

"He's quiet."

"Does he talk in his sleep?"

"I haven't heard him."

"You haven't been listening." The smile didn't change. "Elisa, I need you to listen now."

He leaned forward and folded his hands.

"In Cesare's house is a safe, probably in the east wing. A ledger, black cover, perhaps a few pages. I want it."

"Why?"

"Because he's cheating the Barsotti family, and I have to prove it."

That was a lie, and I knew it.

My father only ever sold me his lies in a soft voice.

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