THE DON WHO COULDN'T LOVE
***
Nonna Rosa received the news with a complicated mixture of grief and grim satisfaction, her weathered hands trembling slightly as Dante recounted the previous night's conversation, careful to include every detail about Renata that Tomas had shared.
"I remember her," Nonna Rosa said quietly, something distant and sorrowful entering her voice. "I was young then, newly married into this family, still naive enough to believe love could survive men like your grandfather and father. I remember thinking, even then, that something about her disappearance felt wrong, though I never had the courage to ask the questions I suspected would carry unwelcome answers."
***
"You knew," I said carefully.