Disowning My Mafia Family After They Chose A Liar novel · Chapter 17 of 24

Chapter 17: Christmas at the Long Table

I went to the Christmas table because my mother asked me, and because I wanted every one of them in the same room.

The compound dining room had been set for fourteen.

My father sat at the head, and the council elder sat at his right hand as a guest.

Aunts and cousins filled the long sides of the table, and Tullio stood behind my chair.

My middle brother and my youngest brother sat together at the far end and did not look up.

Delfina sat across from me, in cream, with King on her lap.

Nobody had told her not to bring the cat.

"I'm so glad you came," she said, soft and bright. "It means so much to Dad."

"I came to ask you some questions," I said.

The table went quiet.

My father's fork stopped in the air.

"Not tonight, Nerina," my mother said. "It's Christmas."

"It's the one night everyone's here, Mom."

I turned to Delfina.

"You've told the family your heart is weak."

"It is." Her eyes filled right away. "I've been sick since I was a child."

"Which doctor treats you?"

"My cardiologist. I see him every spring."

"What's his name?"

"Why does it matter?"

Tullio put a folded paper on the table beside my plate.

"I found the name on your last report and called his office on Tuesday," he said. "He has no patient called Delfina Brancato. He retired nine years ago."

Murmuring ran down the table.

"That's a mistake," Delfina said quickly. "They lose files."

"Which leg do you limp on?" I asked.

"My left."

"Then why did you favor the right at the funeral?"

She blinked.

"I switch when I'm tired."

"On a pier," I said, "with no cane, you walked eighty feet straight."

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