ella

ith the passing days. It carried us straight to the

with the expensive perfumes and quiet murmurs of New York's most powerful families. N

a warm, calculated smile. "Elena," Eleonore greeted, her sharp eyes dropping to the silver 'M' on the crucifix. "A beautiful piece

cker of pride in Nonna's eyes, the temptation to accept. But I had warned her. *Publ

her and gently, almost imperceptibl

ile. "You are too kind, Eleonore. But my Isabella is still recovering her strength. The crowds..

nreadable, before nodding gracefully. W

ter, the trap

eavy silver forks against porcelain seemed to echo off the faded portraits of our ancestors

ing through the tension. "Senator Vance was arrested on corruption charge

her plate. The color drained

s no dismissal in his eyes. There was calculation. There was respect. "You did

eatrice, burying her face in her hands. "I didn't know!" she wept, playing the perfect, tr

tting her shoulders and casting venomous glares in my directi

ella's theatrics. She looked at me, her cloudy eyes filled with absolute ce

val. He slammed his hand flat against the mahogany tab

orgiving weight of a Caporegime. "Clean out the Matriarch's Suite. My dau

pened her mouth to argue, to defend the bastard chil

icture of a dutiful daughter, and offere

d up the grand staircase, the heavy Persian runners absorbing the sound of

Clara, were standing near the

ung face pale from the tension downstairs. "Carmella almost got us

t reminder that Beatrice is just an outsider from New Jersey." Sofia swallowed hard, her voice dropping to a trembling whisper. "When Isabella was five, she accidentally spilled a glass of wate

d, covering

killed," Sofia warned, clamping a hand ove

buried deep. Beatrice hadn't just stolen my mother's room; she had tried to freeze the life out of me. I looked down the hall toward the