Chapter 5

By the time they were finished, Vittorio smoked one cigarette after another, then, as though doing penance before a priest he'd stopped believing in, sent message after message to my phone.

But this time, I, who had never once replied, suddenly sent back a single line: "Tomorrow, at the union, I will be there."

Vittorio froze.

So did I.

All the way until the sit-down the next day, as I trailed beside Vittorio, who had changed into his groom's suit yet still moved through it all in a daze, I couldn't believe it.

After all, my phone had long since sunk into the sea with my body. No diver the Family sent would ever fish it back up.

And even if my own blood had recovered my corpse, why keep the news buried in silence and go through with this blood-alliance union that no longer had any meaning at all?

Yet there among the assembled Families, I truly did see my father, the old Don who had cherished me, and my sister, the one I had been closest to.

Nothing about them seemed off. They weren't even especially grief-stricken. When Vittorio crossed the floor to pay his respects, they were relaxed enough to trade quiet words with him, the way men do on neutral ground.

Eleven-thirty. The ceremony formally began.

Vittorio stood at the end of the red carpet, his expression uneasy. Even now, even with my whole bloodline watching from their seats, he still wasn't sure I wouldn't leave him standing there before every capo and consigliere in the room.

The doors of the hall swung slowly open. When he saw the figure at the end of the carpet, and the familiar wedding gown, Vittorio finally let out a breath.

But the next instant, the lights blazed bright as day, and every made man in the room went still.

Because the bride standing at the end of the red carpet wasn't me. It was Carmela.

She wore the wedding gown my mother had left to me, gathering the skirt in her hands as she ran the length of the carpet to Vittorio, weeping. "Vittorio, I'm sorry."

"I know I shouldn't have come and ruined everything today, but Adriana still hasn't shown up, and last night she was even out entertaining men she'd bought for the night. She's clearly out to humiliate you in front of every Family here!"

"She won't stand with you, but I will. I swear, every happiness she could give you, I can give you too!"

"Vittorio, we've already lost so many years. Let's not lose any more, okay?"

Carmela wept as though her heart were breaking, and many in the room who didn't know the truth genuinely believed I'd been out haunting clubs, shameless and loose, and one after another the whispers began to turn against me, pity gathering around Vittorio like smoke.

"This is supposed to be a blood-alliance between the Farlones and the Marchettis. The old Don's eldest has quite the temper, doesn't she?"

"Right? Out buying men the night before the union... that's spitting on the man she's meant to stand beside."

"Poor Vittorio, bound to a woman like that. If you ask me, the Ricci girl is the loyal one. Those two are the real match."

"..."

Vittorio's brow was tightly drawn. After wiping away Carmela's tears, he didn't answer her right away. Instead he stayed where he was, waiting in silence, the whole room waiting with him.

He waited half an hour. The end of the red carpet remained empty.

Still I hadn't appeared.

At the stroke of noon, he sighed, took Carmela by the hand, and gave a respectful, distant nod toward my father and my sister.

"Don Hart. Sister. You've seen it for yourselves. It isn't that I, Vittorio, fail to keep my word. It's that Adriana is simply too willful."

"The Farlones must take a bride today, before the Commission and every Family present. Since Adriana is unwilling to step through our door, I have no choice but to choose Carmela."

"I ask for your understanding."

With that, he took the rings straight from the officiant, drew out the wedding band, and moved to slide it onto Carmela's finger.

Carmela gazed at him with adoring eyes, the corner of her mouth curving quietly into a smug smile that held a half-second too long.

And I watched it all, seething with hatred, wishing I could rush forward and tear the two of them to pieces!

The moment the ring was about to slide onto Carmela's finger, my father, who had stayed so composed all this time, suddenly spoke. His hand, which had been slowly turning the signet ring on his finger, went completely still.

"Vittorio. Adriana is right here today. Your union can proceed without a hitch."

"So long as you're willing."

Vittorio stopped short. His fingers trembled, and the ring dropped to the floor. In the silence, the small sound of it striking marble carried to every corner of the room.

The next second, the whole hall floor began to rumble. The center of the red carpet sank, and then a transparent coffin rose slowly with the ground that had just given way.

At the sight, not a man in that room dared breathe.

Because inside the coffin, lying in plain view before every Family, was my body, eyes closed, steeped in formalin.

For one instant, Vittorio froze.