It had been years since I went shopping. Once I started using mobility aids, the Pakhan forbade me from leaving the house. He said it was because his enemies would target me, but I knew it was really an effort to hide his dark shame—the head of the Bratva with a disabled daughter. Matteo didn’t seem to have the same reservations about me being seen in public, although maybe that was why he’d been angry at the idea of Sienna and me going out. I clenched my jaw as a wave of overwhelming emotion washed over me. The urge to make myself small, to hide away, was strong. I had to be stronger.
