The Stand-In’s Stoke Back, Everyone Regretted It

They dragged me to the storage room. The floor was already turning brown.

I curled into myself, vision going black, everything burning. The baby was gone.

I let out a sound I'd never made before, not a word or a cry but something jagged and animal from somewhere deeper than I'd known I had. My nails drove into my palms until blood came.

Fever and pain picked at the edges of consciousness. Just before it pulled me under, one last thought surfaced, clear and hard as a stone:

I can't die yet. I need to find my brother. I need to make them pay.

The next morning was the day the family sent someone to collect me for the event.

Don Moretti stood in the main hall, hands clasped behind his back, looking well-rested. Luciano stood behind him, wearing a smile of quiet self-satisfaction. Avery leaned against his arm, playing the part of the adoring girlfriend.

She looked up at the Don. "Father, should I go out to greet the family's representative? Proper daughter and all that."

The Don smiled. "Of course. You're the real heir here. Your husband's going to run a territory one day — good for you to be seen by the right people."

Luciano took Avery's hand with a look of devotion so thick it was practically a costume. "You don't need to worry about anything. I'll make sure you have the highest standing in this family."

She pushed him away with a little pout, but her eyes glittered.

Then rapid footsteps from outside: the doorman stumbled in, all the color gone from his face.

"Sir — sir, there's a problem—"

The Don's brow furrowed. "Calm down. The family sent someone, what's—"

"It's — it's not that." He pointed toward the gate, hands trembling. "The Shadow King. The Shadow King came himself."

The air in the main hall went solid.

The Shadow King. The hidden supreme of the Cosa Nostra. The man who controlled the life and death of every crew in this city, who ran operations that left no trace. Every underboss in the organization deferred to him. Even Don Moretti lowered his head.

The iron gates of the estate swung open.

Don Moretti moved without thinking. He grabbed the hem of his jacket and dropped to one knee.

"Your servant, Vincent Moretti, welcomes the Shadow King. Forgive me for not meeting you at the gate. I am unworthy."

The Shadow King said nothing. He walked slowly into the courtyard, his gaze sweeping over the assembled faces and landing on Avery.

"Don Moretti." His voice was level. "I understand there's someone here who was meant to take a fall on someone else's behalf. Which one?"

Luciano's expression shifted. He tightened his grip on Avery's hand and got there first: "Your Excellency, it wasn't Avery — there's another girl going in her place. She's just not feeling well right now."

"She's not showing the family the respect they deserve by hiding in her room. I'll go get her out." He said it through his teeth, stood up fast, sweat on his forehead.

In the storage room, a hand grabbed me and hauled me upright.

"Get up. Stop playing sick."

I coughed twice. My face was burning.

Luciano's face was dark. "Nina. You really want to pull this right now? You agreed to this yourself. Now you're faking an illness — what, you're trying to force Avery into taking your place?"

His eyes were full of fury, like I'd become something he just needed gone.

He half-dragged me out, and I hit the courtyard floor on my knees with a dull sound.

Everything he'd ever been to me looked, from here, like something that had never existed. Blurred and fighting to keep my eyes open, I felt tears drop onto the stone. Too weak to do anything else.

Luciano pointed at me and addressed the Shadow King. "Your Excellency, this is Nina. She agreed to go. Now she's putting on this show — it's a disgrace to the family."

I lay half-collapsed on the courtyard floor, hair loose, the dried blood on my skirt cracked into dark flakes. Face paper-white. I managed, barely, to lift my head.

The Shadow King was looking at me. The hand that had quietly moved armies was trembling slightly. He was staring at the mark on my inner wrist and had been staring for a long time, long enough that the entire courtyard had gone silent.

The Shadow King's throat moved. His voice came out rough, almost unrecognizable.

"...Nina?"