nna

my mother. From me. I wanted the

hands up in a d

empted to smooth things over

t me. "The girl's beh

im with a voice as c

, Lorenzo." Every wor

whispering cluster of wives.

stop making a scene," she advised

ter is an act of charity that

her icy glare directly on Rosa, pinning the w

"would you surrender your own m

ed with a deep, b

nto the anonymity of the other women and ke

lf had grown viscous and thin, constricting his windpipe. He was starting to look lik

" he demanded, casting a nervous glance around the c

refused, her pos

laid bare right her

his voice, takin

e of the honorabl

c that I would protect Cam

n must survive

y, the sound sharp and

a mean destroying my own re

is mask of civilit

or the protection I a

taller, refusing

k wedding silk straight onto the dirt. I had never seen a

r voice ringing with a note of finality, "not serv

nce, but I knew what I had to do

m the courtyard floor, I pressed the heavy stack

ged her to walk away from

, his considerable frame bl

s, his eyes find

ng a private tribunal later that evenin

the Underbosses have alr

murmur again, their whispers li

ill be exiled from the Syndicate," they whisp

embled at the threat

my arms tightly around her neck and p

fraid of t

, replaced by something harder. Steel entering a spine. For the first time since my father died, I watched my mother truly look at an enemy and refuse to lower