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

"As a reward, how about I give you a big gift today?"

"Sure, I'll wait for you at home."

He was going to any lengths to stop me from going after Adriana. This three-year-long charade needed to end. The moment his car pulled out past the gate soldiers, I went straight to begin severing my identity from the Family registry.

After filling out the paperwork that would erase my name from the rolls, I sat across from a Consigliere in a quiet office that smelled of old leather and cigar smoke. When I asked about the blood-family pardon, he only said that a blood relative's signature carried the same weight as the wronged party's own. It was sworn. It was binding. Once given, no vendetta could ever be reopened. It couldn't be undone.

I didn't ask further. Instead I had him draw up two copies of the severance of our union. With the papers in my bag, I went to Lorenzo's offices, the legitimate face the Gallo Family wore over everything beneath it.

The moment I crossed into the lobby, I caught the low hum of men gossiping near the elevators. "Isn't that Mrs. Gallo? I heard she just came back from across the water. Look at her. No wonder she turned the Don's head. Even I'm a little jealous."

"Has to be her. Look at that bag. Brand new, only ten of them made in the whole world. The Don picked it out himself in his office. Bought it for her. Tender, isn't he."

"You think that hotel he built overseas was for her? They say the two of them go back to childhood. Even the old stories wouldn't dare write it this way."

When I reached the top-floor office, I stood at the door and heard a familiar voice through it. "These three years. How have you been?"

"Pretty good, actually. I wake to the sight of the ocean every morning. The air smells like freedom. I should thank you. If it weren't for you, I probably would've—"

"Don't mention it. It's all in the past. I believe you never meant to hurt anyone. Helping you was helping myself."

Adriana laughed, bright and easy. "You haven't changed a bit. If Francesca knew you were quietly looking after me all this time, she'd make a scene over you." A small pause, the soft tap of a manicured nail against a box. "This is too expensive. I can't take it. You should give it to Francesca. If I keep it, she might bring the Commission down on me again."

That was Adriana to the bone. Take everything, then play the gracious one, as though she were the one extending forgiveness while laying every sin at my feet.

Three years ago, at the wedding, I had named her for what she was in front of the whole sit-down. A murderer. I broke with her and with Salvatore Corsini that day. And every guest in that room closed ranks behind her, calling me hysterical, a girl who didn't understand how things were done.

I became the joke of the territory. Lorenzo stepping forward had been the only thing that pulled me out of it. And now he was the one feeding me back into the dark.

A secretary opened the door right in front of me and hurried in with a stack of contracts. Lorenzo's eyes flickered, caught off guard. "Francesca? When did you get here? Don't read into it. Adriana just got out and we were only catching up. That's all."

"Francesca. Long time no see," Adriana said, rising. She wore something new and couture from the Gallo luxury line, the kind of dress that cost more than most soldiers saw in a year.

Her face glowed, her skin flawless and delicate. She looked nothing like a woman who had just walked out of twenty years owed and somehow unpaid.

I nodded and smiled, swallowing it all down, and said, "It's nothing. I was shopping nearby and thought I'd stop in. Since you're busy, I'll head back first."

Lorenzo thought I was angry and came after me into the corridor, explaining for a long while. "Don't be like this. I was only asking how she'd held up inside. She's a woman, after all. It can't have been easy in there. It's been three years. Shouldn't every old grievance be laid to rest by now? Didn't you just say it's all in the past?"

Watching the worry on his face, I couldn't help but laugh. To save Adriana, he had sacrificed our marriage and played out this whole performance with me. Now that she was safe and whole again, who exactly was he still pretending for?

"Yes. It's all in the past. Don't worry. I'm not unreasonable." My thumb found the thin gold ring on my finger and turned it once, slow, the way my mother's rosary oil still seemed to cling to it. "I keep my word."