For Three Years, I Loved the Man Who Betrayed My Mother

My best friend, Adriana Bellandi, murdered my mother the night before my wedding, ran her down in the dark and called it an accident. Instead of marking her for the vendetta, the man I was promised to stood before the families and flaunted their union like a trophy.

I brought Adriana before the Commission and walked into their sit-down to demand the blood owed for my mother. Instead of finding sympathy among them, I became the joke whispered behind every glass of wine.

My childhood friend, Lorenzo Gallo, knelt before me in front of all of them while I stood at my lowest, swearing he would…