The ties that bind

Serena had never felt more out of place in her entire life.

The clock in the hallway chimed softly, marking the hour as 8:00 PM. Dinner time. It was time for her to face her family, to confront the looks and the silence that had followed her since she stepped back into the house. She had already known it wasn't going to be easy—after all, it wasn't like she had been welcomed home with open arms—but something inside her still hoped that, maybe, just maybe, things might be different. Maybe they had missed her. Maybe they would treat her like the sister she once was.

But as she stood in front of the dining room, her heart heavy in her chest, that hope faded. The door to the dining area was slightly ajar, and she could hear muffled voices from inside—her brothers, speaking in low tones. The door wasn't closed, but they didn't know she was listening. Her heart skipped a beat when she heard Lorenzo's voice.

"She's back. But we don't have to pretend she's wanted here."

Serena froze, her stomach lurching. She had expected indifference, perhaps a cold reception—but not this. The words hung in the air like a slap, stinging her chest.

"She can't just come back after all this time," Marco added, his voice laced with anger. "She's a liability. We don't know if she's really changed, if she's dangerous to Sofia."

"There's no place for her here," Vincenzo growled, his tone colder than Serena had ever heard. "She killed Sofia. She betrayed all of us."

Raffaele spoke up, his voice surprisingly firm. "I don't care what happened. She shouldn't be allowed back. She's never been the same after what she did."

"I don't trust her around Sofia," Matteo's voice added, raw with emotion. "She tried to hurt her before. What if she does it again?"

"Lorenzo, you should send her away again," Alessandro chimed in, his youthful voice full of resentment. "This isn't the place for her."

Serena's heart shattered in that moment, the weight of their words hitting her like a physical blow. I'm not wanted here. The thought echoed in her mind, crushing the fragile hope she had tried to hold onto.

"Enough," Lorenzo's voice cut through the noise, calm and commanding. "Serena is here. She will stay here. Do not forget she is still family."

The silence that followed was deafening. Serena, frozen just outside the dining room, felt the sting of their words, the truth of their rejection. She had been away for so long, forgotten by them for years, but hearing them speak about her like this—like she wasn't even part of the family anymore—cut deeper than anything else.

She stood in the doorway, hesitant, not sure if she could walk in. But before she could decide, the door opened wider and she stepped in, all eyes falling on her immediately.

Lorenzo, sitting at the head of the table, gave her a cold look, his face hard and unreadable. The others—Marco, Matteo, Vincenzo, Raffaele, and Alessandro—looked at her with a mixture of disdain, distrust, and something deeper—something that spoke of years of resentment. She wasn't their sister anymore. She was a stranger.

Her breath hitched, and she took a step toward the table, but her gaze drifted toward the door again as it opened once more.

It was Sofia.

Serena's breath caught in her throat. There she was—Sofia. Alive. Alive.

For a moment, everything around her stopped. The room blurred, her vision spinning as she tried to process what she was seeing. The sister she had been told was dead, the sister she had mourned every single day for seven years, stood before her, looking as if she had never left.