Chapter 2

I stood in the doorway, and I remembered the last sixteen years.

I hate the cold. So Papa had heated floors put into my suite.

I love the custard from the south. So Marco would take a detour on every trip and bring some back for me.

Luca taught me to ride. The first time I fell off, he carried me on his back three blocks to the doctor.

Nico and I fought about everything. But when I got punished, he'd copy out my lessons for me in secret.

They used to hold me in their hands like that, too.

Then a month ago, the real Vale daughter came home.

Mia had spent sixteen years out there on her own. She'd gone through hell.

My parents couldn't sleep at night from the guilt. My brothers wanted to give her everything good in the world.

I wanted to make it up to her, too.

I gave her the suite I'd lived in for sixteen years. I put every piece of jewelry Mama had given me in front of her. Every property Papa had signed over to me. Every gift my brothers had brought back from their trips. I told her to take whatever she wanted.

She didn't take a single thing.

She just looked at me with red eyes and asked me:

"You've had my parents and my brothers for sixteen years. Are you going to keep my fiancé, too?"

That was the first I knew she wanted Dante.

On the road home, she'd been attacked by robbers. Dante and his men pulled her out of it. He handed her a handkerchief. Nothing, just a reflex. And she remembered it.

But the wedding was already set.

Dante took my hand and told her, with the whole family standing there:

"I saved you because you're Rena's sister."

"There's only one woman I'm marrying in this life. Rena."

Mia fainted on the spot.

When she woke up, she stopped eating. Stopped drinking. Then she cut her wrist.

Mama sat next to her bed and cried all night. Papa and my brothers took turns talking to her. She only said one thing, over and over:

"If she stays, I'll spend my whole life being the girl they picked up on the road."

"So either she goes — or I do. Choose."

And that's when everybody started asking me to give a little.

Papa sighed and said, "We're just calming her down. Once she settles, everything goes back to normal."

My brothers said, "You're the reasonable one. Mia's not. If we don't give her what she wants, she's actually going to die."

Even Dante went quiet.

They said it was temporary. They said once Mia understood nobody was abandoning her, it would all be fine.

Now they were saying it again.

Mia sat with the puppy in her lap and asked, quiet:

"And if she won't sign?"

Dante's fingers tightened around his glass. His knuckles went white.

"She'll sign. Rena cares about this family more than anything. She thinks we're all going down because of her. She's not going to gamble with the safety of every woman in the house."

Mia's eyes filled up instantly.

"You're still defending her. In front of me. After everything you promised me."

"Or do you only ever get to hurt me when she's watching?"

Dante was quiet for a long time.

"I didn't say that."

"You're still holding on to her!"

Mia stood up, crying. "All of you — you're all still holding on to her! Then why even bother pretending? Tomorrow when she walks out, you'll all go back to her. Papa will feel bad she spent a night in a cell. Mama will hold her and cry. My brothers will turn on me. And you'll marry her again."

Papa set his glass down immediately.

"No. Mia, we promised you. We'll do what we said."

Marco kept his voice soft. "After she signs, we'll send her to the estate in the country for a while. When you're not scared anymore, she can come home."

Luca frowned. "Rena's actually always been good to you. Everything you liked, she gave up for you."

Mia slammed her glass down.

"Look at me. Every single thing she gave me, she gave it with that face. Like she was doing me a favor. Like I was a stray dog she felt bad for."

"She handed me back my own life and made me thank her for it."

The room went quiet again.

Nico sighed. "Fine. Let's not talk about her. Tonight's your dinner. Stop crying."

Dante reached inside his jacket and set something in front of Mia.

A pendant. Gifted to him by the old Don. He never took it off.

"I'll give you my word. After the engagement is called off, I won't marry Rena for a year."

He paused.

"And after that — if you still can't accept it — I'll let her go. I'll find her a good man."

Papa cleared his throat, trying to lighten the room.

"Everything set at the Pit?"

Marco nodded. "I sent three thousand in cash ahead. The cell was cleaned out. Blankets, a brazier, hot water. All arranged. The guard on duty tonight is an old friend of mine. He won't let Nonna and the others suffer."

Luca said, "Mama's not strong. I've got a doctor standing by outside. We'll go get them first thing in the morning."

Papa relaxed. "Good. Mama's always been forgiving. Once she knows the truth, she'll yell at us a little, that's all."

"Your mother's a kind woman too. She'll understand we owe Mia."

Nico laughed. "The wives won't hold a grudge either. Only Lily's a scaredy-cat, she'll probably cry. I'll pick up a few boxes of candy tomorrow, that'll fix it."

They'd even worked out who would pick up who.

Papa would get Nonna.

My brothers would each go apologize to their own wife and kid.

Dante would take me himself. He had a house ready on the south side of the city, planted with magnolias. My favorite.

He said once I cooled down, he'd stay there with me a while.

Every one of them was sure that when the sun came up, everything would be the way it was before.

I stood there, a ghost stuck in place, and all I felt was tired.

Nobody knew the three thousand never made it to the Pit.

The guy they'd sent to deliver it had been bought by Mia.

No blankets. No brazier. No hot water. No doctor.

She took the cash and paid three thugs with it. Told them to ruin me.

I looked at her face while she said it.

She wasn't sorry.

She was smiling.