Sophia leaned back in her cream-colored leather seat, her stiletto boots kicking into the air.

“You couldn’t get a bigger jet?”

I stared at her.

“Kidding!” she exclaimed. “I’m totally kidding.”

“Not everyone gets your sense of humor, Soph,” Paige chided her from a facing seat.

Sophia rolled her eyes. “You mean not everyone understands genius? I think Angelo got it just fine.”

“Don’t worry,” I answered, closing up my laptop and putting it away. “Next time I’ll call the president and see if he’s using his jet that weekend.”

“Thank you,” Sophia smiled.

Next to me, Paige picked up her martini glass and plucked the olive from its contents. I tried not to stare as she sucked the gin from the fruit.

“What do you think, Angelo?” Sophia asked. “Is it worth selling?”

I ran my palm across my jaw and thought about it. “That depends on how much effort you want to put into the place. You’re pretty busy as it is.”

She shrugged. “I only have one job.”

Paige guffawed into her drink.

We all knew about Sophia’s second job. She just preferred we didn’t talk about it much.

Still, it could be hard to ignore the elephant in the room. Or, more specifically, the professional assassin.

“Plus, it’s my call which DJ gigs I take,” she went on. “It’s entirely up to me to make my own schedule in that department. And I’m kind of liking the real estate game. It’s like playing poker, you know? Negotiating is all a mental game.”

Paige jutted her chin at her sister. “Have you ever played poker?”

Soph winked. “I’ve got lots of secrets.”

“I’m sure you do,” I replied, amused. “What are you thinking? You girls want to go back to Italy and see it yourself?”

They exchanged a glance, using that impossibly decipherable and silent twin language.

Upon finding out they had been given Paige’s deceased almost-husband’s property in Italy, the three of us took off to Italy to inspect the goods.

Moretti’s mansion had been impressive. And so were the millions that the girls got for selling it.

Funny enough, though, they still kept their little apartment and Paige still worked her regular office job. They seemed to have attachments to those things, something I just didn’t understand. It’s funny how much we can not want routine things to change.

Under my tutelage, they invested the money and began to get their hands into real estate. Mostly Sophia was the interested one. Paige didn’t seem to care much either way. She hadn’t wanted the house in Italy.

She didn’t want anything of Moretti’s. Which explained why she’d been more than eager to invest the money rather than spend a cent of it.

“Sell it,” Paige said, referring to Moretti’s second property, the one we had yet to deal with. “Or burn it to the ground.”

Sophia rolled her eyes. “We might as well burn money.”

I cleared my throat, sensing budding tension. “Let’s talk about it after the holidays.”

“Deal,” Paige replied, leaning into the side of her seat so that her shoulder brushed mine.

“Who all is going to be in Chicago?” Sophia asked.

“Let’s see. My parents. And Franko, Dominic, and Lia...”

“God, I haven’t seen Lia in years!”

“I still don’t remember her,” Paige said.

“You haven’t met… or, I guess, re-met her?” Sophia asked.

“Nope. She’s the only person in Angelo’s family that I haven’t, I think.”

I rubbed the top of Paige’s thigh. “She’s going to be thrilled to see you both. Oh, I almost forgot! Tre will probably be there as well. He’s kind of become a staple at Salvatore gatherings.”

“And what about crazy family rituals?” Sophia pressed. “Anything there we need to prepare ourselves for? Any chanting over the ham or dancing naked around a bonfire in the woods?”

“We’re not pagans, Sophia.”

A shiver ran through the arm Paige pressed against me. I reached over and rubbed both her shoulders. “Are you all right? Are you cold?”

“I’m fine,” she said to a spot six inches off from my face.

“You’re pale.”

Paige looked at the floor. “Really, I’m fine. I just didn’t get enough sleep last night.”

Sophia’s lips pursed.

Something was going on.

“What is it?” I questioned.

They exchanged a look.

“All right,” I nearly shouted. “I can respect your psychic twin abilities most of the time, but sometimes it gets pretty annoying. If something is going on...”

Paige cut me off. “I’m just nervous. That’s all.”

“Nervous? But you know my family, Paige. They adore you. My dad thinks the sun rises and sets on both of you.”

She shrugged a shoulder. “I know, it’s just… It’s the whole Christmas thing.”

I hugged her a little tighter. “You don’t like Christmas?”

“I don’t know,” she said. “I used to love it, but now I don’t know.”

Sophia let out an unmistakable angry sigh. “Have you guys been talking about this at all? I really think it’s time you just told him, Paige.”

Fear itched in my chest. A dozen possible bombs formed in my mind. “Tell me what?”

Paige’s jaw ticked. “It’s no big deal. I’ve just been feeling kind of nervous.”

“About this trip?”

“Yes, and about… other things.”

“For how long?”

She pushed back a lock of her long dark hair. “Um, a while.”

“Months,” Sophia said. “It’s been growing for months. She needs to go back to therapy, Angelo.”

Paige’s eyes flashed. “I can handle this!”

“Trust me. You can’t,” Sophia snapped, before crossing her arms. “I’m just trying to make sure you get help.”

Paige forced a smile. You could tell it was fake by the way the corners of her mouth trembled. “How about we add this to the list of things we talk about after the holidays?”

“That doesn’t really seem right,” I carefully told her. “Since you’re dealing with these feelings right now.”

“It’s fine. It comes and goes. It’ll be gone soon.”

The new information stung. “So just how long has this been going on for? And you never thought to tell me?”

Her eyes glistened. “I didn’t want to worry you.”

I sighed. “Oh, Paige. I want to worry about you. It’s my job.”

I want to do it for the rest of my life.

I thought about adding that last part, but the timing wasn’t right. Especially not with my girlfriend’s sister sitting just a few feet away. A line needed to be drawn somewhere.

I searched for a level way to finish the conversation. “Just promise me this talk isn’t over.”

She smiled slightly. “Deal.”

Sophia sat up straighter. “Hey, look! Is that Chicago over there?”

I turned around in my seat to get a better view out of the window. “Yep, that’s it.”

The pilot came on, announcing we were close to landing. The three of us buckled ourselves in. Sophia started drilling me on the best places to shop around the greater Chicago area while Paige fell silent. I held her hand, noting how light and cold it seemed.

Paige could try and brush her feelings off, but they were a bigger deal than she’d let on to. Looking back, it became clear there had been signs over the last few months. She started a lot easier than she used to, and she didn’t seem to want to go out as much as before.

Every once in a while, I asked her if she had any memories come back, but she always replied in the negative.

But maybe her warped emotional state was a reaction to a still repressed memory.

What could be worse than watching your parents be murdered?

I stifled a sigh.

Whatever was going on with Paige, whatever was causing her fear, I would figure it out.

I would fix everything.