Before I became the silent ghost who haunts Chicago's underworld. Before I learned that screaming doesn't help when they're cutting your vocal cords. Before I understood that being unable to speak means people fill your silence with their own assumptions.
"Ana Moretti?" Carmela's voice rises. "The Morettis have been enemies since—"
"Since the night my father died. The night I lost my voice."
I don't write what else I lost that night. My innocence. My faith in happy endings. My ability to tell anyone what really happened in that warehouse while my throat filled with blood and Roberto Moretti died three feet away from me.
Van's studying me with those tactical eyes, seeing more than most. "They can't force you."
If only it were that simple. If only I could explain how tired I am of being the Rosetti who watches from shadows, who plans everyone else's victories while standing forever apart. This marriage contract isn't just duty—it's possibility. Even if that possibility comes wrapped in danger.
"It's not about courts. It's about honor. I gave my word to honor all my father's agreements. ALL of them."
When Marco took over the Chicago operations officially, I became his enforcer, his tactical genius, his silent shadow. But the oath was mine to make too. Every promise my father made before he died, I swore to uphold.
I show them the short video on my phone, watching Carmela gasp. Ana Moretti, caught in a surveillance image my men took last week. She's signing something to someone outside the frame, her hands moving with fluent grace. She's been preparing for me. For the monster she thinks she's marrying.
"She's beautiful," Carmela breathes.
Beautiful doesn't begin to cover it. Ana Moretti moves through the world like she owns it, all sharp edges and controlled fury. I've been watching her for days now, trying to understand what kind of woman agrees to marry her uncle's killer.
"She's been studying sign language for the past year. The Moretti lawyer made sure to mention that. She's been preparing."
"Preparing for what?"
"To marry the mute monster who killed her uncle that night ten years ago."
The words look stark on the page. This is what I am to her—not a man, not even an enemy. A monster. Something to be survived or conquered.
Carmela grabs my hand, fierce in her protection. "You're not a monster. And you didn't—we know you didn't—"
But she doesn't know, not really. None of them do. They know the official story, the one Marco tells. But they weren't in that warehouse. They didn't see what I saw, didn't make the choice I made. My silence isn't just physical—it's a prison I've built around the truth.
"She knows what her family told her. That I'm the reason she grew up without the man who raised her. That marrying me is her duty to her family. And probably her revenge."
Van watches me with understanding. He knows about revenge, about duty, about being trapped by circumstances beyond yourcontrol. But even he doesn't understand the isolation of being forever separated from the world by silence.
"When?" Carmela asks.
"Tomorrow. Neutral ground. Her family's lawyer, ours, and the two of us to discuss terms."
Terms. Like my life is a contract to be negotiated. Like loneliness can be solved with signatures and agreements.
The truth I don't write: I'm looking forward to it. For ten years, I've been Chicago's silent tactical genius, the broken Rosetti who plans but never speaks. People look through me, around me, everywhere but at me. They see the disability, not the man.
But Ana Moretti learned sign language for me. A year of study just to be able to speak to the monster she's being forced to marry. That's more effort than anyone outside family has made in a decade.
“Christ,” Van says. “You Rosettis are going to eat her alive.”
"Yeah. She's not just marrying me—she's marrying into all of us. And she has no idea what that really means."
The rain continues against the windows as Van and Carmela finally leave, murmuring reassurances I don't need. I light another cigarette and stare at Ana's photo. She's been studying sign language for a year, preparing to speak to a monster.
Tomorrow, I meet the woman who's been preparing to marry a killer. She thinks she knows what she's getting—a silent beast who destroyed her family.
She's wrong.
I'm much more dangerous than that.
