#Chapter 35 – Don Romano

I come to a stop before him, tucking my hands behind my back, standing about a food behind Christian, who doesn’t look back at me. “She hasn’t given you an ounce of trouble, dad,” Christian sighs, pressing the bridge of his nose between his thumb and forefinger. “Honestly, this whole thing is ridiculous –“ “I’ll decide what is ridiculous, Cristian,” Don Romano snaps, interrupting Christian and pronouncing his name with a distinct Italian accent that makes it very clear that his name in this house is different than the name I grew up calling him. Christian just shakes his head, inhaling deeply and dropping his hand from his face, turning to gesture towards me, exasperated. “Well, here she is, dragged across town for no reason. Opening opportunities for our enemies to see her in a car with me, learning who is holding her and where.” Don Romano ignores his son, lifting a hand and beckoning me forward with a slight quirk of his fingers. I step forward three steps, swallowing hard and n