Semua Bab CALAVERA: The Mafia’s Caged Bride : Bab 181 - Bab 185

THE RETURN~ANYA POV~I knew we were getting close when the landscape started looking familiar in ways that made my stomach turn, olive groves giving way to manicured estates.The Mediterranean glittered in the distance like broken glass, and every kilometer closer to Marbella felt like traveling backward through time to a version of myself I had tried desperately to bury.Marcello was asleep in his car seat, his head leaning at an angle that would give him a crick in his neck, completely unaware that we were driving toward the place where his mother had been broken piece by piece.César was quiet in the seat next to me, his hand resting on my thigh in a gesture that was probably meant to be comforting but just made me more aware of how tense I was, how my entire body had gone stiff the moment we had crossed into Andalusia."We can turn around," he said quietly, the first words either of us had spoken in an hour. "If this is too much, we can go back to Paris. I will make an excuse to

~ANYA POV~The cemetery was on a hill overlooking the village, old stone walls surrounding graves that dated back centuries, and Diego's was in the newer section, a simple marble headstone that read "Diego Torres, Beloved Son and Brother, Gone Too Soon."I stood in front of it with Marcello's hand in mine while my mother and Emilio stayed back to give us space, and César stood even further away with his guards, respecting the boundary."Who is this, Mama?" Marcello asked, looking at the headstone."This is your Uncle Diego," I said, my voice thick. "Remember him, my brother. He was very brave and very kind and he loved me very much.""Where is he?""He's in heaven, baby.""Why?"How do you explain murder to a three-year-old? How do you tell him that his father killed his uncle? How do you reconcile those two truths?"Because sometimes people go to heaven before we're ready," I said. "And we miss them very much."I knelt down in front of the grave, pulling Marcello down with me."Diego