The Blood Union Was a Lie, and So Was My Mother’s Death

Three years ago, my sister and I were blood-bound to the two Marchetti brothers on the same day, in the same hidden ceremony no soldier of the Family was permitted to speak of.

I was given to the older one, Don of the Marchetti Family; she was given to the younger, the Underboss who stood at his right hand.

Before our mother died, she sat through three full days on a cheap long-distance bus just to make it to our wedding.

For that day, I knelt outside the gates of the Marchetti estate for two days without food or water, begging the soldiers to let me pass, until Salvatore Marchetti finally…