Chapter 1

The union had reached the exchange of rings when my husband suddenly said he needed five minutes.

Then he turned, dropped to one knee before his first love in front of every Capo the Moretti Family had ever seated at its table, and said, "Bianca Gallo, I once swore I'd ask you before all of them. So if there's a next life, will you marry me?"

Bianca covered her mouth and nodded, sobbing as she threw herself into my husband's arms. Then she turned to me. "Adriana Ferraro, I know I won't get the chance to marry Dominic in this life, but I hope you'll take good care of him for me."

Around me, the made men and their wives were whispering behind their hands, glancing between us the way soldiers watch a debt about to come due.

Across from me, the young Don was kissing another woman like he couldn't bear to let go.

The whole room had gone still, everyone waiting for the bride to shame herself.

Instead I walked toward Bianca, smiling, and pressed my bridal bouquet into her hands. "How could there be no chance? Since this rotten cucumber is someone you just can't let go of, I'll hand him over to you right now."

...

For ten years I had bowed and scraped, keeping the Moretti books clean and the legitimate fronts spotless, desperate for the family to accept me as one of their own.

And in the end it was the child in my belly that finally bought me this long-overdue union.

I'd told myself that once the alliance was sealed, once the child was born, Dominic would finally settle.

But now I stood watching the man who was supposed to be swearing his life to me kiss someone else like he couldn't let go.

I dug my half-inch nails all the way into my palms, and still my heart hurt until I couldn't breathe.

And all at once, I didn't want to swallow it anymore.

Because of what I'd said, Bianca clutched her chest and collapsed into Dominic's arms. Her fingers reached the silk a half-second too late.

He didn't hesitate. He scooped her up and rushed for the hospital, and even on his way past the seated Capos he couldn't resist calling me "vicious" and "petty."

Saying it was a matter of five minutes, and I'd had to make a scene and humiliate the whole table before the family.

His parents and mine couldn't stop the young Don from leaving. No one in that room would dare.

So I took the full brunt of everything that was left.

The officiant stood there holding his blessing, looking at me in embarrassment while an enforcer near the door shifted his weight and said nothing.

My Ashford, mortified before the Don's household, wept as she struck me and demanded I go bring Dominic back.

My Vale let out a cold snort, told me to sort myself out, and dragged her away by force.

My Ashford-in-law had never thought much of the associate's daughter married in by arrangement, and now she coldly berated me for having no sense of the bigger picture.

She lectured me: if I wanted to keep a place in a family like theirs, I had to learn to swallow my grievances, not shame my own husband in front of the men who answered to him.

In ten years, it was the first time I truly felt that a sincere heart earned nothing in return.

This Moretti daughter-in-law. I didn't want to be her anymore.

They left with the remaining guests, telling me to walk back on my own and think hard about what I'd done.

I stood at the entrance of the estate, holding up the hem of my white gown with both hands, watching every last one of them disappear down the drive.

Behind me the great house sat silent and empty, all its Sunday-dinner warmth gone cold.

In front of me the rain crashed down in a sudden downpour.

Once the Don's parents and the rest of them had gone,

my parents pulled their car up in front of me.

My Ashford rolled down the window, and at the sight of them all the hurt inside me broke loose at once. My lashes trembled, tears spilled down in a string, and in a hoarse voice I called out, "Mom."

I reached for the door, but from inside came the sound of the locks clicking shut.

I stared at them, stunned.

My Ashford scolded me the way you'd scold someone hopeless. "This is what you get for not listening to me back then. Now you listen to your in-laws, reflect properly, and find a way to coax Dominic back. You're carrying their family's blood either way. No matter what Bianca does, she can never get ahead of you."

"Mom, how can you say that—"

She didn't answer. The window went up and the car drove off.

I twisted the plain wedding band on my finger, biting down hard on my lip, watching the taillights shrink into the distance, and the tears fell and wouldn't stop.