Chapter 3

Hearing that, Lorenzo's gaze darkened.

"Adriana, have you still not figured out where you stand? You're nothing but a false heir with no blood claim to the Valente name. Sooner or later the Family will cast you out into the street. If you want to keep breathing the air you're breathing, the only thing you can do is stay on Vittoria's good side."

Please her?

They wanted me, the hidden Donna who had built every racket the Valente Family fed on, who moved more money through the Skyline fronts in a night than these men saw in a year, to grovel before some pretty face whose only talent was luring men into bed?

The moment I said it, Vittoria went soft and delicate, catching hold of Lorenzo's hand.

"Lorenzo, it's only right that my sister hates me. If I'd never shown up, all of this would still be hers."

Looking into Vittoria's fragile eyes, Lorenzo melted, pulling her into his arms to shield her.

"Vittoria, you're the true blood daughter of the Valentes. Adriana is nothing but a thief, stealing a life that was never hers."

Then his cold gaze swung to me.

"Apologize."

My face darkened too.

"And if I don't?"

Lorenzo hadn't expected me to push back so hard. His expression turned uglier still. He tugged at his cuffs, lifted his chin.

The men around him were egging him on. Made men of a fading house, laughing to cover the debt closing over their heads.

"Lorenzo, if you can't even bring one false heir to heel, how are you supposed to sit at the head of a Family someday?"

"Lorenzo, if you can't whip her into line now, aren't you afraid she'll show up in five days and make a scene at your alliance feast?"

Vittoria clung to Lorenzo's hand and cried harder, looking all the more wronged. She dabbed at the corner of her eye with the back of her wrist, a beat too rehearsed.

"Lorenzo, if you truly can't let my sister go, I can step aside and give the two of you my blessing. It's just that, for the Family throne to pass to me, I'd have to bind myself to someone else."

Hearing that, Lorenzo panicked instantly, his eyes turning icy as they cut to the soldiers beside him.

"Hold her down for me. I'm getting this apology out of her no matter what."

The words had barely landed before two enforcers stepped forward. The private room went quiet. Somewhere behind the bar, ice settled in a glass.

My eyes went cold, and my hand shot up, striking one enforcer across the face.

"If any of you dare lay a hand on me tonight, by tomorrow you'll disappear from this Territory. No Family will ever find the pieces."

The two enforcers traded uneasy looks, neither daring to move. Their hands hovered near their jackets, then went still. Lorenzo couldn't stand losing face, so he grabbed a glass from the table and hurled the wine at me.

"Adriana, wake up! Do you really still think you're the high-and-mighty eldest daughter of the Valentes?"

The cold wine slid down my cheeks, and rage flared through me in an instant.

I raised my hand to swing it across Lorenzo's face, but the next second he seized my wrist in a hard grip.

"Adriana, have I spoiled you so much that you've forgotten exactly who you are?"

With that he dragged me in front of Vittoria, his other hand clamping viciously around the back of my neck, forcing my head down. "Apologize."

I clenched my teeth, refusing to make a sound, but Lorenzo was far too strong.

Just then, behind me, the door of the Family's private suite suddenly opened, and a man stepped out.

"Ms. Valente, Don Falcone has been waiting for you a long while."

That one line froze everyone in the room.

Lorenzo's face fell. His grip loosened.

"Since when do you know the men in there?"

Vittoria was even more stunned, her hand freezing mid-gesture over her mouth, the performance gone.

"No wonder my sister was acting like she feared nothing on earth. Turns out she's got herself under a man even more powerful than you, Lorenzo."

Lorenzo's men broke into whispers too.

"I said it, didn't I? Adriana loved Lorenzo so much, how could she suddenly turn so cold? Turns out she's being kept by someone else."

"Being the little sweetheart of one of the three Dons who own this Territory really does beat playing the false heir of the Valentes."

"Lorenzo, that safe house of yours on the North End is nothing next to whoever's sitting behind that door."

Lorenzo listened to their chatter, his face ashen, his fingers dragging once more at cuffs that no longer straightened anything.