Chapter 4

"Women like me can't afford to cross someone like Miss Marchetti."

Bianca's voice trembled as she clung to Salvatore's shirt.

"She has money. Connections. Everyone in this city knows what she means to you. Salvatore, I'm not good enough for this life."

She looked up at him through tear-filled eyes.

"Just let me go. I don't want to wake up one morning and find my parents dead because I took something that used to belong to her."

Salvatore's expression changed.

The private room had gone completely silent.

His soldiers stood along the walls, their faces carefully blank.

Salvatore looked at me.

"Explain."

I slowly lowered the hand covering my face.

The mark from Bianca's slap was still bright across my cheek.

"You should ask her what happened."

Bianca's face went white.

"Miss Marchetti!"

Her voice cracked.

"Yes, I slapped you. I admit it. But only because you threatened my parents."

I stared at her.

Bianca twisted the fabric of her sleeve between trembling fingers.

"They're ordinary people. They have nothing to do with any of this. If you're angry with me, then hit me. Do whatever you want to me."

Her tears spilled over.

"I'm begging you. Just leave my family alone."

My blood went hot.

"You're lying. You were the one who slapped me, and then you tore your own dress. You..."

"Enough."

Salvatore's voice cut through mine.

I stopped.

He was looking at me with something worse than anger.

Disappointment.

"Adriana."

His voice was quiet.

"I spoiled you too much."

For a second, I couldn't understand what he'd said.

Then his eyes hardened.

"Did you think that because you have no father, no mother, no famiglia left to answer for you, you could do whatever you wanted and I'd always clean up after you?"

Something inside me went very still.

Maybe I'd known this was coming.

Maybe there simply wasn't enough warmth left in my heart for him to freeze.

I laughed.

My eyes burned so badly it hurt.

"All right."

I looked at Bianca in his arms.

"How are you planning to defend your wife?"

Salvatore didn't answer immediately.

He walked toward me.

Then he reached for my hand.

My fingers instinctively curled, but he caught them and slowly pulled off the ring I'd worn for nearly ten years.

I stopped breathing.

It wasn't worth much.

Not compared with the diamonds Salvatore could buy now.

He had made it himself after earning his first real cut working the docks, back when he was still a street soldier with blood on his knuckles and holes in his shoes.

The edges had been uneven then.

I'd laughed when he slipped it onto my finger.

Salvatore had turned red with embarrassment and threatened to throw it into the river.

I'd held my hand behind my back and refused to let him take it.

That ring had stayed on my finger through everything that came afterward.

Until now.

Salvatore turned it slowly between his fingers.

Then he looked toward his consigliere.

"Make the call."

The man hesitated.

Salvatore's eyes sharpened.

"My wife's jewelry was stolen. We caught the thief with it."

The room went dead silent.

I stared at him.

For the first time that night, even Bianca looked surprised.

Salvatore had spent years building relationships with men who wore badges by day and answered his calls at night.

I knew exactly what "make the call" meant.

There would be a report.

A statement.

Enough paperwork to make the accusation look legitimate.

And if Salvatore wanted me held for a few days, no one at the precinct would be eager to ask questions.

I looked at the ring in his hand.

Then at him.

Salvatore Corleone hadn't become Boss by being merciful.

He had climbed out of the gutter one body, one deal, one betrayal at a time.

I'd simply never been on the receiving end of that ruthlessness.

I had always been his exception.

His one weakness.

The woman he defended first and questioned later.

For ten years, no one in his territory had dared lay a hand on me because everyone knew what Salvatore would do in return.

And now the man putting the knife in my back was Salvatore himself.

He stepped closer.

"Adriana."

His tone softened again.

"Go cool your head for a few days."

My eyes lifted to his.

"Don't worry. I won't let them keep you long."

He raised the ring between us.

"When you come home, I'll put this back on your finger myself."

For some reason, that almost made me laugh.

Home.

He had already given my home to Bianca.

What exactly did he think I was coming back to?

Not long afterward, two officers arrived.

Neither looked Salvatore directly in the eye.

That told me everything I needed to know.

One of them took out a pair of handcuffs.

Salvatore reached for me as they stepped closer.

I pulled my hand from his.

His fingers closed on empty air.

For the first time that evening, something uncertain crossed his face.

I looked down at my bare finger.

My thumb brushed once over the pale mark the ring had left behind.

Then I turned away.

Behind me, Salvatore said my name.

I didn't stop.

He took one step after me.

"Salvatore."

Bianca caught his arm.

He looked back.

She pressed herself against him, still shaken.

"Thank you for believing me."

Her voice trembled.

"I was so scared."

The hesitation in Salvatore's face disappeared.

He touched her cheek.

"What do you want?"

Bianca blinked.

"To make it up to you."

She finally smiled.

Then her eyes dropped to the ring still resting in his palm.

Before Salvatore could react, Bianca plucked it from his hand.

And dropped it into the trash.

His expression changed instantly.

"Bianca."

Her smile vanished.

Her eyes filled with tears almost as quickly.

"Does it matter that much?"

She immediately bent toward the trash.

"I'm sorry. I'll get it back."

Her voice grew smaller.

"Ten years is ten years, after all. Even if she hates me, I don't want to make things difficult between you because of some old ring."

Salvatore caught her around the waist and pulled her upright.

"Leave it."

"But..."

"Don't put your hands in there."

The last trace of anger left his face.

He took a card from his wallet and held it out to her.

"Buy whatever you want."

Bianca shook her head.

"I don't want your money."

"Take it."

"No."

She wrapped both arms around him.

"The only thing I want is you."

Salvatore laughed helplessly.

"Yes, yes. I know."

He pushed the card into her hand.

"But you're my wife. Let me spoil you."

Only then did Bianca reluctantly curl her fingers around it.

Three days later, I was released.

No charges had been formally filed.

Of course they hadn't.

The accusation had never been about justice.

It had been a lesson.

Salvatore wanted to frighten me, punish me, and then bring me home once I'd learned to behave.

One of his men was waiting outside the precinct.

He drove me directly to the Corleone social club.

By then, I was exhausted.

Three sleepless nights had left my face pale and my body weak.

When I pushed open the door to the private lounge, laughter hit me first.

Then applause.

Salvatore was sitting in the center of the long leather sofa.

Bianca was practically in his lap.

She held a grape between her lips, laughing as Salvatore leaned toward her to take it.

The grape slipped between them.

Neither seemed to care.

Bianca caught his face and kissed him instead.

The men and women gathered around them erupted in cheers.

Someone whistled.

Someone else shouted something that made Bianca hide her face against Salvatore's shoulder, laughing.

I stood in the doorway.

No one noticed me at first.

Not even him.

Three days ago, Salvatore had watched me leave in handcuffs.

Now he was celebrating with the woman who'd put me there.

I didn't know how long I stood watching.

Eventually, Salvatore looked toward the door.

His smile disappeared.

His eyes moved over my face.

The dark circles beneath my eyes.

My bloodless lips.

The weight I'd seemed to lose in only three days.

His expression darkened immediately.

Salvatore pushed Bianca aside and stood.

"What happened to you?"

I said nothing.

He crossed the room, his brows pulling together.

"Adriana."

For the first time since I'd walked in, something close to genuine anger entered his voice.

"Did someone in there mistreat you?"