Chapter 4

When I went back to the front office, I finally understood what he meant.

Every operation I'd been running, every ledger and legitimate front, had already been signed over to Bianca's name.

She was our new capo over the books now, always smiling as she handed me the scut work.

Dominic came by every noon to take her out to lunch.

When his eyes landed on me, they were pure ice.

Out in the streets, the whisper against the Moretti name kept spreading.

He wanted me to stand with him on Monday, at the sit-down the Family was holding before the Capos.

To help set the record straight, that Bianca had never been the outsider at all.

That years ago, when she'd fled the territory, I'd used her absence to force my way between her and Dominic, then leveraged a pregnancy to pressure him into a blood-bound marriage.

He made it sound generous. He said I'd still be the envied wife of the young Don, I'd only have to carry a small stain on my name.

That way the storm around the Family would settle, and Bianca wouldn't be touched by it.

He even said the whole thing had started with me making a scene at the union, so it was only right that I bear the cost.

Of course I wouldn't accept it. I cut him off on the spot.

Then his parents came to me, warning me I'd best do exactly as the household arranged, and not fool myself into thinking a Moretti heir in my belly let me run wild.

I gave them the same silence I'd given Dominic.

And I walked away from the Family's operations for good.

My work is clean and my hands are good with numbers. Other Families had tried to draw me over before, but now, when I reached out one by one, every door had gone strangely quiet.

I knew this was the Moretti household's doing.

They were squeezing me toward that sit-down.

But this time I didn't want to bend.

After another dead-end meeting, an old contact reached me. A foreign syndicate had a new overseas supply line running clean money through legitimate fronts, and they needed someone who knew the books. The tribute would be no worse than what the Morettis paid. The only catch was that the work sat beyond the vendetta, across the water. They asked if I was interested.

I was my parents' only child, after all. Thinking of them, I only agreed to consider it.

I got back to the hotel.

My Vale called, saying my Ashford's headaches had flared up again.

I flagged a cab home right away.

The moment I pushed the door open, Dominic was there too.

My Ashford took my bag from my hands, looking perfectly lively.

I looked at her, heavy-eyed. I knew. My own blood had sold me out again.

At the dinner table, Dominic sat beside me, endlessly piling food onto my plate.

The three of them put on a picture of warm harmony, as if they were the real famiglia.

My Ashford kept praising him from the side. "Dominic really is a son-in-law you don't find twice. Good blood, a good name, and so considerate to Addie."

My Vale was the elder at this table, yet he wore a fawning smile, hovering with the bottle and refilling the young Don's glass before it was ever empty.

He made small talk about the union, saying I'd been too willful, and thanking Dominic for enduring me.

The sight of them bowing and scraping to the man who'd shamed me made everything I'd held onto these past days crumble in an instant.

My eyes went hot and red.

I gripped the glass of milk my Ashford pushed in front of me until my knuckles were pathetic and white.

"It's fine. We're bound by oath now, husband and wife. Even when Adriana's in the wrong, I'll do my best to be patient. It's only the sit-down..."

Dominic's gaze never left me.

Full of contempt, and certain of his win.

My hand clenched, and the milk overflowed, dripping off the edge of the table onto the floor.

I looked at my parents, unable to bear it any longer. "Am I even your own blood? Why is it that my whole life, the second anything goes wrong, you never once stand on my side? I've already told you. I won't go back to Dominic."

Dominic's brow drew tight, unable, no doubt, to work out why, after giving in so many times, I was digging in now.

My Ashford's hand froze in the middle of wiping the table, and the milk-soaked rag came down across my head.

Sticky milk mixed with grayish grime ran down my face.

She turned to Dominic with an apologetic little smile. "Dominic! It's all my fault, that I raised Addie so poorly she'd want to sever the alliance over something this small."

Then, without a moment's hesitation, she slapped me across the face and snapped, "Adriana, do you think you're still some girl of twenty? You're thirty. A woman at thirty is spoiled goods. The young Don doesn't hold your age against you, doesn't hold your willfulness against you, and you should be on your knees kissing his ring in gratitude, yet you still want to break faith! Have you no manners at all!"

"It was one small thing at the union. How long will you keep making a scene? If you won't think of yourself, at least think of the child in your belly and of your parents!"

My face was knocked to one side, burning with pain.

Dominic seemed not to have expected my Ashford to raise a hand.

He shot to his feet and reached out to steady me, and my Ashford's next blow landed on his shoulder instead.

His voice was tender with concern. "Are you all right? Let me get you to a doctor."

Then he turned back to my Ashford, and the room went still around the softness of his tone. "Signora. She's my woman, and she carries a Moretti child. If there's a next time, Ashford or not, I won't go easy on you."

My Ashford stood there, stunned.

I let out a scoff, my eyes full of disgust. "Dominic, what's this act, playing the good man? Isn't this exactly what you wanted to see?"

Something in my look shook him. He was always so far above everyone, the young Don whose word bent whole rooms, and now his face showed nothing but a lost, helpless daze.

"Adriana, you—"

"Ha. You want it this badly, for me to take the fall as the outsider so Bianca comes out clean? Fine. I'll stand at the sit-down. Just don't regret it."

With that, I slammed the door behind me, hard.