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

The fury on my face cracked.

What was left underneath was nothing but contempt.

Thinking of that cheap little chapel they'd thrown together for the blood-union, my lips twisted into a cold smile.

No wonder everything had been so slapdash.

So from the very beginning, Carmela had never intended for us to stand before the family and seal the pact at all.

Everything today had been her plan all along.

Seeing me silent, Salvatore actually thought I was repenting.

His voice was thick with disdain. "And to think Carmela went out of her way to arrange a proper ceremony to redo it for you, even pulled strings with the Family's own clinic to get your mother before a specialist. Looking at you now, I don't think there's any need."

"Apologize to Carmela right now, then take that sister of yours and get the hell out of my house!"

I grabbed his arm, my voice cold.

"Redo it? Don't you find yourself ridiculous? You could redo it ten thousand times and she'd ruin it ten thousand and one. We won't need it ever again. Let her hold a ceremony for the three of you instead. My sister and I aren't worthy of it!"

"Apologize? Not unless she kneels before my mother and kisses the floor to beg her forgiveness!"

The rage in his eyes ignited in an instant. The signet ring on his right hand went still beneath his thumb. He bit out each word through his teeth.

"Adriana, have I been too easy on you? Can't you understand plain speech?"

"This sham of a union is something you knelt and begged two days and a night to get! What, now you don't want it? Or are you afraid of being exposed, that your mother's illness was faked all along?"

"Three years ago she was dying, so you had to bind yourself to me. Three years later she's dying again, so you have to hold a ceremony. Your mother's a tough one to kill—"

I never imagined he would turn my mother's illness into proof I'd married into the Family under false pretenses.

For a moment all the blood in me froze, and I clenched my fist with everything I had, my knuckles trembling.

"Shut up! You're not fit to mention my mother! You're not fit!"

"Salvatore, sever it. Sever the blood-union right now! I never want to see you again! The three of you cheating dogs can stay chained together for the rest of your lives!"

The instant he heard me say sever it again, both his hands clamped around my throat.

The pressure grew heavier, my face going purple.

Carmela had just finished picking the bits of food out of her hair. Seeing this, she rushed over and pulled at Salvatore's hands.

Salvatore couldn't bear to go against her. He let go just before I blacked out.

Carmela came toward me, tears of grievance brimming in her eyes.

When she bent down to help me up, my sister, who had just come to, shoved her away.

The push was too hard. Her hand struck the corner of the cabinet behind her, and she let out a muffled cry of pain.

Lorenzo immediately pulled her into his arms, lifting her hand to inspect the injury with aching tenderness.

Then he turned on my sister, the knuckles of one hand cracking against his palm, his voice furious.

"You never learn your lesson, do you? I've clearly let you get away with too much! Now you've learned to threaten people with severing it. Fine, then severed it is! I've had enough of your mother's three-year act! If she dies with her eyes still open, that's no business of mine!"

Salvatore's face had gone as dark as it could get.

I had just pulled my sister to her feet and was limping toward the door when I heard him grind out:

"Can't you hear me? The two of you, apologize to Carmela!"

Everything that had just happened had crushed the last shred of hope in me.

Hearing his voice now, I only sneered. "We're nothing to each other anymore. Who are you to make me apologize? The one who should apologize is this bitch who'll make my mother die with her eyes open!"

"No, the three of you are exactly as low as each other. A famiglia made in heaven, really!"

I had just stepped through the door when Salvatore seized the back of my neck and yanked me back.

My sister couldn't reach me in time, her face frantic.

Salvatore forced me down to kneel in front of Carmela, his shoe pressing hard into my shin so I couldn't move.

He dialed his right hand while he threatened me.

"Apologize now, or I won't mind giving your mother a funeral while she's still alive!"

The call had gone through, and the threat in his eyes only grew heavier. The ring on his finger no longer turned. In a room full of his men, no one drew a breath.

I clenched my teeth and spat at him.

The next second, he said coldly, "Cancel the whole ceremony. Turn it into a funeral for Adriana's mother instead! She's dragged this out three years—now I'll make her really die! Cancel the appointment Carmela arranged at the clinic too!"

The voice on the other end answered at once. "Don Marchetti, Miss Russo's mother has already passed away. At the ceremony this morning—"