Giacomo and Pietro marched toward me like soldiers defending their queen's honor.
"How could you be so vicious, huh?" Pietro sneered at me.
"A night locked up hasn't done much to reform you, huh? You want more punishment?" Giacomo snarled.
I stared at them blankly. "What more do you want to do, huh? You've done everything you could ever possibly do to hurt me."
Giacomo's eyes softened for a bit before the baby's cries sounded again and they hardened.
"I'll let you off the hook just this time!" he snapped as he left with Nadina and the baby.
"Let me off the hook?" I scoffed, laughing like a crazy person. "Do you even know what I've been going through all these days? Do you even know that I lost—"
"We need to take Angela to the doctor," Nadina's teary voice interrupted me.
And just like that she managed to silence me once again as the boys rallied around her and left with the baby while she gave me a smug smirk before leaving.
I stayed in the hospital for a few more hours and they didn't return.
When the doctor discharged me he gave me a strict warning.
"If you don't rest, you will die, and I'm not joking here," he said.
I nodded. "I understand, doctor."
When I got back to the Russo compound they weren't back yet. I went into the room I had shared with Giacomo for four years and I brought out a big box.
I carried the box outside and I lit a fire in the big metal drum in the courtyard, the one the soldiers used to burn documents that couldn't survive a raid. Then I opened the box and was assaulted with years of memories.
Inside, the box was filled with photographs from the ceremony, gifts Giacomo and Pietro had given me over the years whenever I celebrated the anniversary of my union with the Family.
As I tossed them into the flame it felt like I was liberating a piece of myself. How naive I was, to love two people who hated me this cruelly.
Every piece of paper, jewelry, picture, dress, everything I burnt had a story behind it, but I realized it wasn't a true story. Everything was just a reminder that I had been lied to over the years.
As I picked up the last item in the box I stared at it a bit longer. It was a braided bracelet I had made with the boys six years ago, the three cords knotted together the night Pietro swore his oath to me.
"I promise to never ever let anyone hurt you. I'll die before I let someone lay a finger on you," Pietro had promised.