Still, she did her best to cover what she knew to have been a blunder, forcing her expression to settle even as tension tightened every muscle in her body.
"Wh… what?" she stuttered, meeting the old man's steady gaze. His eyes looked even sharper than they usually did, focused entirely on her as he settled his gaze on her with a knowing expression that made her chest tighten.
"It was hard not to figure it out. First was your sister Elisa, who had her toes cut off after she was kidnapped," he said calmly, his tone disturbingly measured.
"Then was your stepmother Maria! Legs cut off and words carved into her skin!" Elder Bellini continued, pointing it out without hesitation, his voice steady as if he were listing business facts rather than atrocities.
"Clearly the mafia was involved," he said, even as he picked up his wine glass and simply fiddled with it, rotating it slowly between his fingers without actually drinking from it.
