A Threat

Catania was beautiful.

Standing on a balcony overlooking the sea, Amalia was inhaling the salty air and basking in the bright sunshine. She’d barely spoken a word in the nearly three-hour car ride from the farm to this villa in the city. At the moment she felt no desire to break her silence.

Her heart felt heavy, and her mind was cloudy. A phrase Father Bellucci spoke in the sermon the day before,