Chapter 2

"Lorenzo, yes, the Marchettis took me in over a decade ago. But the tribute I've brought this crew over the years is more than ten times what your family ever spent keeping me. Don't try to guilt me with that."

With that, I didn't wait to see his reaction. I walked straight out, the sound of shattering glass following me down the hall.

The whole way, I caught strange looks from every direction. Soldiers who'd once stood aside when I passed now let their eyes crawl over me.

"Bet she tried to get her hooks into Marchetti and failed, and now she's been thrown out. Men like their women clean. She's spent all these years at his side and never got made worth a thing to him. Something's definitely off about her."

"We used to think Marchetti was a fool. Turns out he knew all along. Poor man, holding out this long for the crew's sake. You think she's carrying some disease?"

Inside the back office, my things lay scattered across the floor, stamped over with countless footprints.

Vittoria sat in my chair, her eyes brimming with smugness.

"Adriana, Lorenzo says the handler's spot is mine from now on. I've got so much of my own to bring in, so I went ahead and cleared out some of the junk first."

Her smile held that beat too long, the way it always did when she was enjoying herself. "He also says he's going to have you cut off from every Family that does business in this city. The decree, all of it. Want me to put in a good word? He does treat me pretty special."

Vittoria flaunted her victory, waiting to see me burn with rage. But I refused to give her the satisfaction. I turned and left.

If I couldn't be someone's workhorse, then I just wouldn't be one.

I scrolled to a contact in my phone and dialed. "That offer. Taking over. I accept."

The reply came quickly, low and certain down the line. "Seven days from now, at the sit-down, I'll declare your name before all the bosses and put the whole Family in your hands."

Back at my apartment, I threw myself onto the bed and got some real sleep.

All these years I'd been busy running rackets and errands for Lorenzo, one thing piling onto the next, staying up through thousands of nights. Back then it never crossed my mind that I'd end up being tossed aside like a spent debt.

I emptied my head of it all, and that sleep was the most restful I'd had in ages, right up until my phone started ringing.

"Adriana, you've skipped out on a whole afternoon. If you still want a place with this crew, get yourself over to the Crisp Aroma Bistro right now."

"Vittoria's sitting down with a partner tonight. She's young, she can't hold her liquor. You go drink in her place. If the pact goes through, I'll think about finding you a rank again."

His tone dripped with charity. I rubbed at my bleary eyes, but my thoughts had already drifted far away.

When Lorenzo and I first clawed the crew up off the street, back when it was on its last legs, we once set up a table to reel in a partner Family.

Everyone seated there looked down on us and wanted a laugh at our expense. They made a game of it, saying they'd seal the pact only if we drank twenty bottles of hard liquor.

Lorenzo was allergic to alcohol. I was barely past twenty, and I'd never touched a drop before. But I knew how much the crew meant to him, so I forced my way through and won him that chance.

Twenty-five bottles of hard liquor later, the arrangement was sealed, and I was in a back-room clinic with a stomach hemorrhage.

When I came around, Lorenzo was sitting beside me, wracked with guilt. The always-hard man's eyes had reddened, a rare thing to see. He wet his lip and held my hand and swore to me:

"Once the crew's standing on its own, I swear I'll never put you through anything like this again."

And now he was the one sending me to go pour drinks.

An ache I couldn't put into words rose in my chest. My fingers found the jade pendant at my throat, my mother's, and closed around it. Without any hesitation, I shot back:

"Lorenzo, I'm not part of your crew anymore. I don't need to show up for your business."

I hung up and dropped his number and his account into my blocked list. Out of sight, out of mind.

After Lorenzo's call, every trace of drowsiness was gone. I lay there staring at the ceiling, with no idea what I was supposed to do next.

After my mother passed, the Marchetti household chose me to be Lorenzo's study companion. From that moment on, my whole life had revolved around him.