We decided to vacate the safehouse the next day. There was no sense in staying in Indianapolis. Because Danilo hadn’t married Serafina yet, Pietro as her father would officially lead her rescue and thus our operation base would be in Minneapolis.

Valentina and our children accepted it quietly when I told them we wouldn’t return to Chicago for now. The school year hadn’t started for Leonas yet, and Anna was being home-schooled anyway.

Ines took the news hard. For her, leaving Indianapolis marked defeat and as if she lost another part of Serafina. She broke down and refused to leave her bedroom.

Pietro and Samuel both were exhausted and shaken so I took it upon myself to talk to her.

When I entered her bedroom, I was reminded of the time I’d found her crying in the library.

Ines lay curled up on her bed, sobbing. Slowly, I approached her and perched on the bed. I touched her head like I’d done when she was a young girl and Father had treated her badly. Her eyes opened so full of anguish my own heart squeezed tightly. She threw herself at me, and I hugged her. “My little girl is suffering. I can’t bear it…I just can’t. I wish I was in her stead. I’d brave pain for her, I’d brave anything for her.”

I’d considered asking Remo to exchange Serafina for someone else, but Remo had targeted her on purpose for the shock value of having a bride, and maybe worse. He wouldn’t release her. That look on his face had made it clear. He wasn’t done playing yet, not with her, and definitely not with us.

“Ines, we must return to Minneapolis. It will do you good to be in your own home. We can’t do more for Serafina here than from there.”

“I feel like I’m giving her up.”

“You aren’t giving her up. We aren’t. But we need to stay strong and you need to keep Sofia in mind. She’s overwhelmed and being in her home will help her too. We all need stability. Val, the kids and I will stay with you for a while until we’ve saved Serafina. And we will save her. I swear.”

It was an oath I wasn’t sure I could keep.

We moved into a safehouse in Minneapolis because Dante determined it was too risky to have us all under one roof at night. But we spent all day at Pietro’s and Ines’ mansion. We settled into a strange routine and the days began to blur.

Pietro had doubled his guards in and around the house. The atmosphere was tense and depressed. I tried to give Sofia, Anna, and Leonas a sense of normalcy despite the horrendous situation, but they knew what was going on. Not in every terrible detail but enough to be aware of the seriousness. Anna and Sofia definitely suffered. Anna woke every night from nightmares while Leonas dealt better with the situation. Maybe it was his age. Maybe he couldn’t quite grasp what it meant to be in the Camorra’s hands. Anna had a better understanding and she experienced Sofia’s acute worry for Serafina.

We sat at the breakfast table one morning, almost done with eating and ready to drive to Pietro and Ines when Dante’s phone rang. He always had the tone turned on nowadays and every time it rang everyone around froze, gripped by dread, fearing bad news.

Dante glanced at his phone resting on the table and the way his mouth set in a tight line told me it was one of the Falcones.

I got up. “Why don’t you grab whatever you want to take with you today? We’re heading out in fifteen minutes.”

Neither Leonas nor Anna reacted to my words, their gazes fastened to their father. Slowly he looked up. My belly clenched.

“Upstairs, now,” he ordered.

Anna’s eyes widened. She pushed her chair back and stood then gripped Leonas’ hand who stared at his father with an open mouth. “Come, Leonas.”

He stood and Anna dragged him out of the kitchen.

I rounded the table. The look in Dante’s eyes scared me. “What is it?”

“Remo made his first demand,” he said in a deadly voice that told me he was fighting for control. He rose and peered down at me. “He wants Minneapolis.”

I huffed. “That’s ridiculous. You would never give him part of your territory, much less one of the most important cities!”

Dante smiled darkly. “Oh, he knows. He fucking knows.” He glared down at this phone. “He’s mocking me. He doesn’t want this game to be over now so he demands the impossible.”

I touched his shoulders. “Will you tell Pietro and Samuel?”

Dante looked into my eyes as if he hoped to find the answer to all his questions there. I wished I had them, wished I could help him. Everyone looked at him for answers, for actions, for salvation. It was a good thing his father was already crippled by dementia no matter how cruel that made me sound. But that man would have only made things worse.

“I have to. Serafina is their responsibility before she’s mine. They deserve to know, even if it’ll complicate things for me.”

“You think Pietro and Samuel would agree to Remo’s demand?” I asked surprised.

Dante raked his fingers through my hair. “They’d do anything to save Serafina.” He smiled as if he understood them only too well. Naturally I would give Remo every last inch of Outfit territory if Anna’s or Leonas’ life was on the line. I’d give him anything, absolutely anything to protect my children. But men had been brought up to always consider the Outfit first. Duty and honor came before anything else. Losing your territory and with it your honor was the worst imaginable fate in our world. Yet, looking into Dante’s eyes, I wondered if he’d hand everything over to Remo if Anna was in his hands, and I was fairly sure he would ultimately.

Anna and Sofia went into the garden to sit on the swing while Leonas slinked about the house. For him, this was hard because he didn’t even have his friends to play. Anna had Sofia and they managed to distract each other on occasion. Leonas had to play alone most of the time.

Dante took Pietro and Samuel aside shortly after we arrived at the mansion and told them about Remo’s demand while I sat on the patio with Ines, drinking coffee. She didn’t know about Remo’s text yet, and I wondered if I should tell her. Dante and Pietro kept many details from her for her protection, but imagining I were in her stead, I would have wanted to know every detail about my daughter’s situation.

Ines glanced my way. I must have watched her for a while. “There’s news that Dante doesn’t want to share with me, isn’t there?”

Anna and Sofia huddled close beside each other on the wide swing, talking. Girls were meant to be protected from all evil in our world, but often our world brought true evil down upon them. Bibiana had suffered in her first marriage and only now found happiness with Dario and her children. Serafina now suffered for the sins of men. “Remo made a ridiculous demand in exchange for Serafina’s freedom. It’s a fluke.”

Ines set her coffee cup down on the table. “What did he want?”

“Pietro’s territory.”

Ines turned her head away, lost in thought for a moment. “He can have it.”

I leaned over. “Ines, he knows Dante won’t ever give him part of his territory. Handing over an important city to the enemy would endanger everyone.”

“You mean it would endanger your children,” she said fiercely.