ella

the black armored Cadillac V-16 idle on Fifth Avenue before merging i

itant steps. "The Underboss said you should

crushing my lungs. I couldn't stay here. My feet moved on their own,

camore tree across from Ristorante Belladonna. Through the restaurant's bull

wiping a smudge of cream from my daughter's mouth with a linen napkin. Dante, the ruthless Underboss of the Moretti family, watched them.

as the private phone in my handbag

et voice purred through the rece

my ear. "Auntie Adriana is the best! She let me have two ic

bled. "There's no *Vendetta*(revenge) on ve

d as a casual joke to mock my mothering. Bile rose in my throat. I hung up t

penthouse, my mind

ther, and his arrogant certainty. I swung open the oil painting of Sicily to reveal the heavy steel safe. He

e back. I pulled out two items. The first was the blood oath parchment of our arranged marriage, written in old Italian.

hed a violent, tearing line straight through my

ht her and picked up the intricate mechanical model I had purchased-a symbol of Falcone intellect. I c

n, stepped out looking uncomfortable. "A

he folde

ing me your husband, your daughter, and th

today was. I didn't cry. I didn't scream. I walked over to the consol