Sofia

The walk home felt shorter than usual.

I kept my hand on the strap of my bag, feeling the stiff edge of the leather folder. When I reached home, the air was stagnant as I opened the door.

My mother sat at the kitchen table. She wasn't cooking. She wasn't cleaning. She was staring at a mug of tea that had long since stopped steaming.

"I need to ask you something," I said.

She didn't startle. She didn't even blink. "Is this about your father?"

I set the folder on the table. The black leather looked invasive against the faded floral tablecloth. I opened it, sliding the first page toward her. Her eyes locked in on the name at the top.

Dante Morelli.

The color left her face in a steady, mechanical ebb.

"You know him," I said.

She closed her eyes, a slow, deliberate movement. "I know the name."

"That's not what I asked, Mama. I need the whole truth"

"Your father needed money. I pleaded with him not to go to Dante because I've heard the stories. Your father promised me he wouldn't go but he did." Her voice broke as she spoke. I could see she was fighting back tears.

"Did he ever tell you what he used as collateral?" I asked her as she sighed, now I could see the tears flowing freely on her face. "I'm so sorry Sophie. I did everything I knew I could to persuade your father but he wouldn't listen."

I stayed silent for a bit, trying to fight back the tears. "I would have to give myself to him for a year, mama." My voice broke down as I said the last part.

"I warned him all of this would backfire. I never wanted you to get caught up in the middle of all this but he wouldn't listen to me. My dear Sophie, I'm sorry." Her eyes glistened with tears as she spoke. And it broke my heart. Since my father left, I've done everything to protect them and now , I was at a crossroad.

"I am not signing anything. Not for him. Not for anyone."

"What will you do? Dante is ruthless. He always gets what he wants."

"We would find a way. Some other way. I won't go down without a fight. I can't just leave everything, leave you and my siblings for a year."

"I'm sorry it had to come to this. Your father, he wouldn't listen to me. I warned him not to take anything from Dante." She cried.

She stood up from the chair and reached for me, hugging me tightly.

"I'm sorry my Sophie." She cried.

"It's okay mama, we will figure this out." But even as those words came out of my mouth, I didn't believe them.

***

The bank manager wouldn't meet my eyes.

I had known Mr. Henderson since I was a child. He used to give Nina lollipops when we came in to deposit the weekend earnings. Today, he kept his hands flat on his desk, his posture rigid.

"I'm afraid we cannot loan you at this time," he said.

"I'm not asking for a handout," I said. "I'm asking for a debt restructuring. If I can consolidate the bakery's overhead, I can clear the arrears."

"Our systems flagged your account at 8:00 AM this morning."

"Flagged it for what?"

He hesitated, his gaze flickering toward the door. "Risk exposure."

"Risk exposure to what? My credit has been perfect for five years. You can't do this to me now . I need this loan more than ever."

"I'm afraid I cannot help you. We don't lend against Dante."

There, he finally said it. The real reason behind his hesitance to help.

"I should have known coming here was a mistake. Obviously, he has you on a tight leash too," I said.

His silence was the only confirmation I needed. The system was already working against me.

***

Paolo didn't answer my calls. By the fourth attempt, it went straight to a disconnected tone. I decided I couldn't keep waiting on him so I went straight to see the landlord.

The landlord, Mr. Rossi, didn't wait for me to call him. He appeared at the house just before dinner. He didn't step inside. He stood on the porch, his hands deep in his coat pockets.

"I've been informed there may be some issues with getting the money you've requested." He said

I resisted the urge to break down and cry as I stood there. My own uncle was shutting me out, and now the landlord was out to get me.

"Informed by who? Uncle, are you really doing this to me? Right now? " I asked.

He adjusted his collar, looking down the street. "Word travels in this neighborhood, Sofia. I have a responsibility to my other tenants. I can't have Dante's men scaring them. You need to fix this. Just do what he wants."

"To leave my family and give myself to some man I don't know for a year? Uncle, I'm in this mess because of my father!"

"And I'm sorry. It's not your fault but you have to do the only sensible thing. It's just 365 days."

He left before I could respond.

***

The local precinct smelled of stale coffee and industrial cleaner. The officer behind the desk didn't look up from his paperwork while I spoke. When I mentioned the name Morelli, his pen stopped mid-stroke.

"Morelli," he repeated, finally looking up.

"Yes. We have an issue but I'm in the process of resolving it."

The officer leaned back, his chair creaking. "Did he threaten you in any way?"

"Not exactly. Like I said, it's an issue that I'm trying to get solved."

"And can you disclose this issue?," the officer asked.

"Not yet."

He tapped his pen against the desk "Then I'm afraid I can't help you Miss Russo. We can't do much since there's not been any violence."

"Do I have to die before you help?" I asked.

His expression went dead. "I suggest you handle your family's business privately. It's better for everyone that way."

I walked out without another word.

***

When I got home, the house looked like a portrait of normalcy.

Luca was on the sofa, his headphones on, the faint tinny beat of his music bleeding into the room. Nina was at the kitchen table, frowning at her geometry homework.

It felt like a fever dream, the idea that this could all be erased because of a signature in a leather folder. My mother watched me from the sink.

"Well?" she asked.

"I can't take a loan. Nobody is willing to help because they know Dante is involved. It's a dead end."

She closed her eyes, her shoulders sagging as if the last of her bones had turned to lead.

"It was foolish of us to even hope," she whispered.

"It's okay mama. I need a moment alone." I said to her as she nodded

I went into my room and closed the door. I didn't cry. If I started crying, I wouldn't stop and I did not have time for that. I sat on the edge of my bed and stared at the dark square of the window.

I wanted to scream out of frustration. Break something. Instead I slid on the wooden floor in my room. All the gates had closed in on me and I was left with no choice but to agree to what he wanted. There was no other way out. Refusing Dante would mean putting my family at risk.

Dante Morelli hadn't touched me but he didn't have to. He had simply tilted the world until I started to slide.

***

The next morning, I opened the bakery at 5:00 AM.

I opened the register to set the float. Everything was exactly as I had left it. The tens, the fives, the ones. But beneath the receipt tray, there was a sliver of white paper that hadn't been there yesterday.

I pulled it out. It was a small, high-quality card. There was no logo, no name. Instead, five words printed in a clean, serif font:

WE ARE ALWAYS WATCHING.

I looked toward the front window. Across the street, the black sedan was back.

I had two days. After that, I wouldn't belong to myself anymore.

Sofia

Luca was twenty minutes past the time he usually came through the bakery door after school. I wiped the counter again to calm my nerves. If I didn't see him in the next ten minutes, I would have to call his school. Or maybe mama first.

The door chimed and Luca stepped inside. Relief hit me first as he walked in, but then I noticed his reluctant steps and the fact that he wouldn't meet my eyes. He was avoiding me.

"Luca." I called but he refused to even look at me as he walked.

Usually he'd toss his bag down, steal something from the pastry tray, and complain about homework. Today he walked straight past the counter toward the hallway that led to the stairs.

"Luca." I called again but he just kept walking. "Luca." I said the third time.

He stopped this time but didn't turn immediately. When he finally did, his expression was tight.

"What?"

I gasped at the glaring red mark on his cheek, stepping around the counter to get a good look at his face.

"What happened?"

"Nothing."

"You don't get fingerprints from nothing."

His jaw shifted. He glanced toward the door like he expected someone else to walk in.

"I tripped."

"Into someone's hand?"

He rolled his eyes. "I'm fine."

"Who touched you?"

Silence.

My stomach dropped. He had touched my brother. He touched my family. Luca dragged a hand through his hair.

"There were two guys," he muttered.

"Where?"

"Outside school. They stopped me when I was leaving."

"What did they want?"

"They said to tell you to answer your phone."

The room tightened around us.

"And they hurt you?" I asked in disbelief.

I reached toward his face, and he winced as soon as my fingers came in contact with his skin. I would never forgive Dante for touching my brother. We had agreed on three days. He was never meant to go after my family this way.

"What did they do?" I asked quietly.

"They just stood there," he said. "One grabbed my collar. That's it."

"And you?"

"I told them to get lost and then they said the clock was ticking. Next time I wouldn't get so lucky."

The words settled in the room between us.

"And they knew my name," he added after a moment. Luca shifted his weight, suddenly uncomfortable under my stare.

"You're not going to tell Mom, right?" he said. "She'll lose it."

"I won't."

"Good."

He picked up a croissant from the tray without asking and took a bite.

The normality of the gesture made something tighten in my chest.

"They didn't really do anything," he said around the mouthful. "Just trying to scare me."

It worked.

"Go upstairs," I told him.

"I have homework."

"Do it upstairs."

He studied my face for a second.

"You're doing that thing again."

"What thing?"

"The quiet one. Where you look like you're planning something."

"I'm not."

He didn't believe me, but he grabbed his backpack anyway and went upstairs. The door shut behind him, and for a few seconds I stood perfectly still. Two men outside a school. Not sloppy. Not violent. Just close enough to leave a mark. Dante was passing a message since he was obviously growing impatient.

My phone buzzed in my pocket. It was the same unknown number from earlier. I stared at the screen until the ringing stopped.

I went to the back office and shut the door. The leather folder sat inside the drawer where I'd left it. I pulled it out and opened it again.

Upstairs, I could hear Luca moving around. I liked to have him come by the bakery like this from time to time so we could go home together. Especially now with this whole Dante ultimatum hanging over my head.

I dialed the number on the paper before I could talk myself out of it.

The line rang once.

Twice.

Then a click.

No greeting.

Just quiet on the other end.

"You sent men to my brother's school," I said.

"I wondered how long it would take you to call." Dante spoke, and I saw red, my grip to tightened on the phone.

"You said three days."

"I did and the clock is ticking. I'm not a very patient person."

"Your men should have never approached my brother or anyone in my family. This is between you and I."

He laughed. "No, this was between your father and me. But he couldn't keep his end of the deal and now you've been dragged in. For as long as you stall, you put your family's safety at risk."

"Are you being serious right now?"

"I ordered my men to not harm him. Just rile him up a little. It worked. You called. Sofia, you don't have a choice. Give yourself to me for one year. A year ends faster than you think."

I walked to the small window of the bakery and looked out at the street. A car drove past slowly.

"You're harassing a fourteen-year-old."

"I'm reminding you that time moves whether you act or not."

"He's not a part of this."

"He became part of it the moment your father signed that agreement."

Anger burned hot in my chest.

"You don't get to involve my family."

"That's not for you to decide."

I forced my voice steady.

"If you have a problem, you deal with me."

"Oh, I am."

His calm made everything worse.

"You think this is going to make me cooperate?"

"I think reality eventually does that."

Silence stretched between us.

"You have made my life a living hell since you showed up in my bakery."

"Rightfully so."

"And now you approached my brother."

"Just a little incentive so you understand that you are mine. Mine."

"You think this scares me? Well, think again. I will do everything it takes to protect my family. I am not yours." I said.

"Careful Sofia. You're speaking like you have leverage. I can wipe your entire family out this very second if I wanted to." He said and I gasped but I recovered myself quickly.

My hand tightened around the edge of the desk.

"Then why haven't you? Because we both know if you do that, I'll never go anywhere with you."

The silence between us stretched for a bit. He was slowly losing his patience but I wasn't the kind of girl to be easily deterred.

"Did I render the great Dante speechless?" I asked

His answer came without delay.

"Do not push me Sofia."

"Listen carefully," I said. "You come near my siblings again and-"

"And what?" The question was soft. "You're angry," he continued calmly. "That's understandable."

"You threatened my family."

"No," he said. "I reminded you they exist."

The difference felt razor thin.

"You have until the deadline," he said.

"And if I don't sign?"

"You know the answer to that."

My chest felt tight.

"Stay away from my brother," I said again.

Another pause.

Then he spoke, quieter this time.

"Your family is safe."

I waited.

"For now."