78. Carlo's Promises

"When I wanted to tell you yesterday, I just couldn’t,” Carlo began in a low, slightly raspy voice. “I’m not indifferent to my mother’s pain, you know. Quite the opposite—I’ve tried to find a way to get her out of here since I was very young. When I was six, my father sent for me to start school in the city. I poured everything into becoming the best at whatever I did. I thought that if I earned my father’s approval, he might finally bring my mother to live with us. I just wanted the three of us to be a real family.”

“And did it work?” Lyla asked, her tone much softer now, no longer so accusatory.

Carlo gave a bitter smile. “You can probably guess that my father’s wife and my half-brother didn’t welcome us. When I was sixteen, I killed two family traitors myself, and only then did my father finally agree to bring my mother into the U.S.”

Lyla couldn’t hide her shock; she turned to Carlo, who continued to look out over the ocean, his face calm, as though he were retelling someone else’s