Chapter 3

Rosa stared at Bianca, disbelief and anger trembling across her pale face.

"Young woman, Salvatore is my son."

Her voice shook.

"I don't know what he's told you, but there must be some mistake. My son would never allow a woman to treat his family this way."

Smack!

The words had barely left Rosa's mouth before Bianca slapped her across the face.

"You crazy old woman!"

The sound cracked through the dining room.

"You come in here dressed like some peasant straight off the boat, can't even pay your bill, and now you're claiming to be Salvatore Moretti's mother?"

Bianca laughed in disbelief.

"Do you have any idea who he is?"

Rosa was already frail. The force of the blow knocked her sideways, and she crashed hard against the marble floor.

"Mom!"

I dropped beside her and pulled her into my arms.

Her entire body was trembling.

And suddenly, I remembered exactly why I had married Salvatore in the first place.

Years ago, when my father announced that he was looking for a husband for his only daughter, men from powerful Families had lined up at our door.

They came with promises, alliances, and carefully rehearsed declarations of devotion.

Salvatore had come with none of that.

Back then, he wasn't the Don people lowered their voices to speak about today. He was ambitious, capable, and still fighting for his place in the Family.

He stayed outside my father's house for three days.

Not for my dowry.

Not for my father's connections.

For Rosa.

His mother was dying, and Salvatore didn't have the money or influence to get her the treatment she needed.

When my father finally allowed him inside, Salvatore went down on his knees.

"I don't want a dollar of her dowry."

His eyes had been red.

"Give me nothing. I only want one thing."

He'd looked at me then.

"Help me save my mother."

That was the moment I chose him.

Not because he was powerful.

Because I believed a man who loved his mother that deeply could never be entirely without honor.

After our marriage, I brought in specialists from across the country. Rosa received the surgeries and treatment she'd needed for years.

She survived.

But her heart had never fully recovered.

Her doctors had warned us repeatedly that she had to avoid severe stress and always keep her emergency medication close.

Now, in my arms, Rosa suddenly gasped.

Her hand flew to her chest.

"Mom?"

Her face had gone frighteningly pale.

"Mom, look at me."

She couldn't answer.

Her breathing came in short, broken gasps as her body curled inward.

Panic shot through me.

"Your medicine."

I searched her coat.

"Where's your medicine?"

My fingers finally found the small brown bottle in her pocket.

I nearly sobbed with relief.

I twisted off the cap.

Before I could get a pill into Rosa's mouth, a hand shot out and ripped the bottle away.

I looked up.

Bianca.

She held the medicine between two fingers.

"What now?"

She shook the bottle lightly.

"You couldn't get out of paying the bill, pretending to be Salvatore's family didn't work, so now the old woman suddenly has a medical emergency?"

"Give it back."

Bianca smiled.

"Please. I've seen every scam there is."

I carefully lowered Rosa against the base of the table and stood.

"Give me the medicine."

Something in my voice made several people nearby fall silent.

But Bianca only lifted the bottle higher.

"Or what?"

I lunged for it.

Two men from the club grabbed my arms before I could reach her.

"Let go of me!"

I fought against them, but their grip only tightened.

Behind me, Rosa made another weak, strangled sound.

Every trace of restraint left me.

"She's having a heart attack!"

My voice rang through the club.

"That medicine could save her life!"

For the first time, a few of the people watching looked uneasy.

Bianca didn't.

She glanced down at Rosa's worn coat and cheap shoes, then gave a contemptuous laugh.

"And I'm supposed to believe that woman is Salvatore Moretti's mother?"

She looked around the room as though inviting everyone else to share the joke.

"Look at her."

My blood went cold.

Salvatore's father had died when he was young.

Rosa had raised her only son alone, stretching every dollar until there was almost nothing left for herself.

Poverty had become a habit she could never quite break.

Even after Salvatore became powerful, even after I filled her closets with beautiful clothes and bought her anything she could possibly need, Rosa still preferred the same plain coats and inexpensive shoes she'd worn all her life.

She used to laugh whenever I tried to replace them.

"Fine clothes don't make an old woman younger, Francesca."

I'd always found it endearing.

Now Bianca was using Rosa's humility as proof that she couldn't possibly belong to Salvatore.

I looked down.

Rosa's lips were beginning to lose their color.

Fear ripped through me.

"Listen to me."

I stopped struggling and stared directly at Bianca.

"Everything I've told you is true."

I forced each word out clearly.

"That woman on the floor is Rosa Moretti."

Bianca rolled her eyes.

"Salvatore Moretti's mother."

A murmur moved through the room.

Bianca's smile faltered for half a second.

I didn't stop.

"And I am Francesca Moretti."

This time, several people went completely still.

I looked at the medicine in Bianca's hand.

"Salvatore's wife."

Silence.

Then I said, very slowly, "If you think I'm lying, call him."

Bianca stared at me.

"Call Salvatore right now."

I pulled against the men's grip again.

"Ask him who Rosa Moretti is. Ask him who his wife is. But give me that medicine before his mother dies on your floor."

For one brief moment, uncertainty flickered across Bianca's face.

Then it disappeared.

She laughed.

"You really don't know when to stop."

Her fingers tightened around the bottle.

"First she's his mother. Now you're his wife."

Bianca stepped closer, looking me up and down.

"What's next? You're going to tell me your father put Salvatore in the chair himself?"

I said nothing.

Her smile sharpened.

"Look at yourself."

She leaned closer.

"You could strip naked in front of my man and beg on your knees, and Salvatore still wouldn't touch you."

Behind me, Rosa suddenly gave a broken gasp.

Then her body went limp in my arms.