ll

ecian columns lined a long foyer as I walked toward the ballroom. Yes, a fucking ballroom. Riccardo Marino’s grandfather had built this place back in the early nineteen

cardo’s rise to power some thirty years ago saw the end of their reign. Now, the man threw his fancy parties and sat o

entered and l

r ma

e he gave me a quick up and down. Perhaps he was looking for a weapon. Perhaps

ng him a twitch of a smil

y in a room full of enemies. Even on a night like this, where alliances were made between families who normally loathed each oth

the Marinos’ annual Rose Ball. And

friend for many years, chirped somewhere

my shoulder. I rolled my eyes to his, then to his companion, a man I assumed was part of the Alphonsi fami

reeting, mustering a

fitting over his wide, overweight face. He

’t you see the resemblance?” It was obvious Carmine had no plans to introduce me to whoever he was talking to. It was also obvious my looks had nothing in common with the Alphonsi family,

laugh behind me, b

this year.” I tilted my head as I looked down

with a wave of his hand.

eing a night where rivalries and grudges were set aside, the entire ballroom hummed with nervous energy as I stepped past my cousin and walked deeper into the crowd. How m

spoke in a low voice. “Why aren

yway, let them see me.” Let them all see me. Let them

isk of bloodshed or the cops showing up. That’s what the Marinos were good for these days. They had a strongly rooted relationship with the authorities here in Jersey that he

in the center of the crowd. Red paddles with black numbers w

mafia in some way. Say someone snitched on his Don—the wife and daughters would be taken and sold, just like that. Or someone who paid for the protection of a family could have his daugh

Tommaso asked as he handed me a p

dragged onstage in little more than a black chemise. She wasn’t the one, so I ignored her, turning m

ight now. I glanced at Riccardo briefly as he sat on his gilded throne before turning back to the stage just in time to se

me that this on

shoved her forward. She fell onto her k

iar scanned the crowd before she locked her gaze with mine. Even from a distance, I saw tears clinging to her dark l