Always by Celia Juliano Read Free Book Online

displeased frown.
    “Are you all right, dear?” Grandma asked. Gina could tell she didn’t just mean about the cut.
    “Sure, thanks.” Gina took some salad, plopping it onto her plate. Three days in and her plan still hadn’t taken shape, like bread dough made with old yeast. “Heard from Frankie lately?”
    Her dad’s jaw twitched. Gina had pressed on a sore spot with him, but it was a way to keep his attention off her.
    “He’s doing well,” Gina’s mom said, too brightly.
    “A real help to Sal,” Enzo said.
    Her own older brother, a traitor. Gone to work for Enzo’s oldest son at his restaurant. Gina chewed a bite of salad. The sharp tang of the oil and vinegar dressing was almost as biting as the bile roiling in her stomach. Now her dad’s face reddened. She hadn’t realized just how angry he still was. Toward her and Frankie. Michael, their younger brother, had always been Dad’s favorite. Michael was a favorite with everyone. If he was here, they’d all be laughing, not eating in tense silence.
    “What do you think of the Giants this year, Frank?” Vincente said.
    Her dad shrugged. “Supposed to be good.”
    Gina caught a look of bemused frustration passing between Vincente and Enzo. She wadded the linen napkin in her hand. Her family was just a joke to the DeGrazias, a dumping ground. Her father used to tell her to stay away from them, telling her his grandfather had warned him of the DeGrazia’s corruption. How, back in Italy, the DeGrazias had used her great-grandfather’s brother as a scapegoat for one of their schemes, how they used many others the same way, including seducing innocent women, laundering money, and back-pocketing local politicians. Why her father had then chosen to involve himself with Carolina DeGrazia…
    “Wine?” Enzo said to no one in particular.
    Gina and her dad both pushed their glasses forward a bit. Enzo poured them each a glass. Vincente already sipped his. Gina’s mom frowned at her.
    “Celeste, this chicken stew is delicious. Gina, have some,” her mom said. She ladled some into a bowl and passed it to Gina.
    Gina took the bowl then picked up a slice of the semolina bread she’d baked this morning. A few sesame seeds dropped into the steaming stew.
    “You’re as good a baker as your grandma,” Enzo said to Gina.
    “Thanks.” Gina ground her teeth together as she chewed. Enzo seemed charming. But his import business just had to be a front for smuggling or something…though she couldn’t find proof, and she couldn’t believe Uncle Carlo, who now ran DeGrazia Imports, would participate in something illegal or immoral. She rubbed her forehead. Years of searching, and she couldn’t find any proof against the DeGrazias.
    Vincente bit into a slice of bread too. A look of enjoyment, savoring—all too similar to his expression last night—passed across his face. Gina set her bread down and pressed her hands into her thighs. Part of her wanted to smack him. A bigger part of her yearned to straddle him and release all this pent-up frustration the way they had last night.
    “Did you hear my niece Carolina is now a representative in the House?” Enzo asked.
    “How exciting,” her mom said.
    Gina bit her tongue so hard she almost cried out. Her hand trembled as she reached for her wine glass. Dad stared at her, his blue-green eyes as frosty-cold as the bay on a winter day. He frowned.
    “Exciting isn’t the word—“ Gina began.
    “Gina,” her dad cut her off, scooting his chair back. “If you’ll excuse us, I forgot there’s something I need to talk to my daughter about.”
    Gina placed her napkin on the table, deliberately moving slowly, not wanting to have this conversation. But she followed her father out. Enzo, Grandma, Mom, and Vincente all watched her. Let them wonder. As if some of them didn’t know, the bastards.
    Her dad waited, pacing, in the living room. As soon as she entered, he shut the pocket doors behind them. He grabbed her arms,