I'd bought them weeks ago, tea for Nonna, a silk scarf for Dante's mother, some imported chocolates for Amber. The kind of thoughtful, expensive things a good daughter-in-law was supposed to bring when visiting the family estate.
I used to put so much thought into these gifts. Used to spend hours picking out exactly the right thing, hoping that maybe this time, they'd smile at me. Really smile. The way they smiled at each other, at Dante, at anyone who wasn't me.
Now I just bought whatever looked appropriate and moved on.
The drive to the Bellini estate took an hour and a half.
The estate sat near the outskirts of the capital, nestled between the rolling hills and old trees. Beautiful, really. The kind of place you saw in paintings with mountains in the background, a lake nearby, the a
