Chapter 18: The Original Chart

Nerina's POV

I waited ten minutes in the back of the car.

Then I got out and walked up the steps of my father's house by myself.

The butler opened the front doors before I knocked.

The dining room was full, and every face turned to me.

Fabrizio stood at the head of the table with his hand on the valve of my sister's oxygen tank.

"Nerina," he said warmly. "Thank you for being punctual."

I looked at my father.

He was on his feet with both fists on the table.

I had never seen his face open before. It was open now, and it was terrible.

"Papa," I said. "He wants you to choose."

"I have chosen nothing."

"You chose on the first night, when the test came back," I said. "You only didn't know it was a choice."

The room was so quiet I heard the tank hiss.

Fabrizio smiled.

"The waiver stands, Don Albertini. She signed it, and I have the witness."

He did not take his eyes off my father.

"Say the word, and my surgeon takes her to the clinic before sunrise."

Ruggiero stepped out of the pantry with his pistol in his hand.

Four Albertini guns came up to meet him.

"Hold," the old doorman said sharply.

Nobody fired.

"Falsetti," said Fabrizio. "How good of you to come through the kitchen like a thief."

"Take your hand off her valve."

"Or what? You shoot me in front of the Commission?"

"Fabrizio."

It was my sister who said it.

She was not looking at him.

She had both hands wrapped around the arms of her chair, and her knuckles had gone white.

"Let go of the valve," Costanza said. "I don't need it to say this."

She reached up with one hand and pulled the clear tube off her face.

It came away from her nose with a small wet sound, and the hiss stopped.

Fabrizio stared at her.

"Costanza, sit..."

"No."

She pushed against the arms of the chair and stood up.

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