He Traded My Pain for Another Woman’s Smile

They were getting older, and more than anything the Moretti patriarch and his wife wanted their son settled, blood-bound to a good Family, living close where they could see him.

To make his dream of building his own crew in Capital City come true, I gave up the plans I'd made for myself.

I took the quiet, unremarkable place at his household's side and stayed behind in our territory to look after his parents.

During those first brutal years, when he was scraping together his own operation from nothing, every dollar of tribute I earned went straight to him, down to the last cent, while the block whispered that I just lounged around the Moretti house, eating and drinking on his name.

When his parents fell ill, when anything came up under that roof, I was the one running to handle it.

And now he was telling me that another woman's standing mattered more to him.

Without meaning to, I dug my nails into my palms until they bit deep.

The moment Rosaria saw me come through the door, she hurried over and caught my hand in both of hers.

"I'm so sorry, Bianca. Dario's just lost his head for a while. Give me a chance to talk some sense into him—"

Dario's voice rose too, that half-beat laugh already dead in his throat.

"Bianca, you're the one who called off the pact. Tell my parents that, right now!"

"Tell them Vanessa isn't the other woman!"

Salvatore Moretti had heard enough. He set his cigar down in the ashtray without putting it out, then kicked his son flat onto the floor.

"You worthless animal!"

"Get that home-wrecker out of my house and go down on your knees to Bianca, or you can walk out of this door yourself and never come back to the name."

Dario curled on the floor, unable to get up for a moment.

Vanessa let out a short, sharp scream and rushed to help him up.

She lifted her head, her eyes stubborn and defiant.

"Don Moretti, signora, people follow their hearts these days. Dario just doesn't have feelings for Bianca anymore."

Then, so smoothly it almost looked like nothing, she tilted her head and shot me a glance, the smile held a fraction too long.

My stomach dropped. My hand rose to the pendant at my throat before I could stop it.

Sure enough, the next second her voice climbed higher.

"You can't force your own son to spend his whole life bound to her just because you pity that Bianca was violated as a girl."

"That isn't right!"

The words detonated in my ears like a thunderclap.

A stifled gasp went through the room. The men near the wall went very still, and for a heartbeat not one of them so much as breathed.

Every gaze settled on me, and the low murmuring began, hands lifting to cover mouths, eyes cutting sideways.

My mind went blank.

The one thing I'd dreaded my entire life, the secret I'd kept under omertà tighter than any of them kept the Family's, had finally been dragged into the light.

Fear and fury surged up together.

I lost control and lunged at her, shoving Vanessa to the ground, grabbing a fistful of her hair as we grappled.

A massive force yanked my arm and flung me hard to the side.

My body slammed into the corner of the table, the pain blinding me for an instant.

Dario shielded Vanessa against his chest, his eyes brimming with rage.

"Bianca, have you lost your mind!"

My voice came out hoarse and raw as I roared back:

"Can't you see she said that on purpose? Just so every family in this territory would know!"

"So what if she did!"

Dario cut me off, seething.

"It's the truth anyway!"

The whispering around me slowly sharpened into words I could make out.

"Dio, it's actually true. That poor Falcone girl."

"Still, you can't bury a thing like that. That's tricking a decent man into taking damaged goods into his blood, making a fool of him before everyone."

Pity and contempt pricked at my back like thorns.

I swallowed down the knot lodged in my throat, barely holding back the tears.

"I told you about this in confidence, so you could go announce it in front of the whole block?"

There wasn't a trace left in Dario's eyes of the tenderness he used to look at me with.

"You're the one who told me on your own. If you didn't even care yourself, why should I have to keep it a secret for you?"

"And besides, why is it always you these things happen to?"

"It takes two to make trouble. Maybe it's because you're always dressing yourself up so flashy that you—"

Crack—

Dario's head snapped violently to one side, the print of a palm plain across his face.

Rosaria set her rosary down on the table with a soft click, then had put every ounce of her strength into that blow, her chest heaving, her eyes filled with nothing but disappointment.

"You animal!"

"Don't you understand? What happened to Bianca is all because of you!"