“Interpret for my mother.
Nothing more.”
Sophia’s warning echoed again.
There are things my son cannot hear, but you might.
“Fine,” I said.
“Elena.”
I stopped before hanging up.
“Yes?”
His voice lowered.
“If my mother says anything tomorrow that concerns her health, her safety, or anyone threatening her, you tell me immediately.”
That did not sound like a normal charity dinner.
“Has someone threatened her?”
“Goodnight, Elena.”
The line went dead.
The next evening, a black sedan arrived outside my apartment at exactly six.
I almost laughed when I saw it.
My building’s front door stuck when it rained.
The hallway radiator clanged all night.
My downstairs neighbor kept a folding chair in the lobby because he liked watching people come home.
Now a uniformed driver was opening the door of a car that probably cost more than the entire building.
I wore the only formal dress I owned, a simple dark green one I had bought for my cousin’s wedding.
The driver took me to a historic hotel overlooking the Chicago River.
Inside, the charity dinner occupied a ballroom filled with chandeliers, white roses, camera flashes, politicians, business owners, and women wearing jewelry that looked insured separately from their houses.
A security guard met me before I reached the ballroom doors.
“Ms.
Russo?”
I nodded.
He touched an earpiece.
“She’s here.”
That sentence did nothing to calm me.
Sophia appeared moments later.
Her face lit up when she saw me.
You came.
I signed back.
I said I would.
She took my hands warmly.
Behind her stood Dante.
Black tuxedo.
No tie.
Expression unreadable.
He looked at my dress for half a second, then at my face.
“Thank you for coming.”
“Your mother is persuasive.”
Sophia saw my lips and signed.
What did he say?
I interpreted.
She laughed.
Then she pointed at Dante and signed, He thinks frightening people is persuasion.
I hesitated before translating that.
Dante watched my hands.
“She said something about me.”
“She said you have a very warm personality.”
Sophia smacked my arm and laughed harder.
Dante’s mouth almost curved.
Almost.
For the first hour, nothing seemed sinister.
