“Hitting and cursing? Anna, you sweet angel…but today you’re on fire.” Enzo grins proudly.
“Oh, don’t encourage her. She gets enough of that from Stella,” Lucky mutters, still pissed.
“I don’t take pleasure in hitting you or scolding you, Lucky, but Kirill is as much part of the family as Frankie, Izzie, and Mina are. Stella loves him. So behave.”
“He is not family,” Lucky grits out.
“Yet, young Romano,” I remind him, just as I reminded Marcello earlier. “I’m not family…yet.”
But I’m glad to see that while the men in this family haven’t warmed up to me, the Romano women have. And something tells me that’s all I need for the rest to eventually fall in line.
What also warms my heart is that Stella’s whole family has somehow come to terms with the fact that she and I are in love. Did she talk to them? Did she just come out and tell her whole family that we were together? But if that’s true, then why keep pushing me away? Why is she so set on both of us being so fucking miserable apart?
“Shhh, it’s starting,” Enzo whispers, pulling all our attention toward the large circle of men just a few yards ahead, and a small log cabin in front of them. Giovanni is the first to emerge from the cabin hidden in the woods, followed by Jude and Marcello. I don’t miss Mina and the Crane twins hovering at the edges of the largeCapocircle, but what does surprise me is who steps out of the cabin next. After his enforcer, Dominic, Selene walks out of the cabin arm in arm with her husband. A few whispers ripple through the crowd, obviously not prepared to see their RedQueen in attendance but one look from Vincent silences every single one of them.
And just as the couple takes their place front and center on the small porch, Stella steps out, dressed in all black, looking like the vengeful goddess she was always destined to be.
“It’s okay… it’s okay,” I hear Lucky whisper softly.
It pulls my gaze away from Stella and onto him, his arm around Annamaria’s shoulders as he rubs her back soothingly while silent tears track down her cheeks.
Selene fought for this day never to come.
But judging by Anna’s tears, she feared it just as much.
I don’t have time to offer any words of consolation, because this is the moment Giovanni begins the Outfit’s sacred ceremony.
“Stella Sofia Romano, you are here today to be baptized into your new family, under God, and in the presence of your new brothers. You have been found worthy of joining this family, as all men present can attest to how our syndicate’s values already course through you. Today, you will vow and give your oath to us that you will maintain and uphold all syndicate rules, as long as there is breath in you and blood running through your veins.”
On bated breath, I watch Giovanni walk to a nearby table and pick up a blade before walking back to Stella. My jaw ticks when he slices through Stella’s palm, but I force myself to stay still when she curls her bleeding fist and lets it drip onto the image of a holy saint.
“Repeat after me,” Giovanni continues, “The spilling of this blood means we are now onefamiglia. I live by the gun and the knife, and I die by the gun and the knife. This drop of blood symbolizes my birth into our family and the knowledge that we are one until death.”
My heart swells with pride as Stella utters those same words, staring smugly at theCapos who are bearing witness to her victory over them.
When she’s done, Giovanni raises a card in the air and says, “This is Saint Jude, the patron saint of lost souls. As a member of this family, in this life and beyond, your soul isoursand therefore never lost.”
Giovanni proceeds to retrieve a lighter out of his pocket, burning the card from its edge, and then hands it over to the nearestcapo, that being her brother, Marcello.
Stella looks at him for a split second, gratitude flickering in her eyes. Then her gaze hardens as she turns back to the circle and gives her oath.
“As this saint burns, so will burn my soul. I enter alive with a pure heart and I will leave only once I’m dead. I will hold the rules of the Outfit above all man made. In my heart, first comes my syndicate brothers, followed by God, family, and then all else. I will care for my brothers as I will care for their families should any depart honorably. I will show no mercy to my enemies or traitors. I will lay no hand on a brother’s wife, sister, or woman.” The teasing little smirk she gives the otherCapos when she says that last part almost floors me.
“She could have left that out.” Lucky huffs, but there is a hit of pride in his voice.
“No, she couldn’t have. She’s proving a point. That this syndicate is archaic and with her induction, old ways will have to change for the new blood that’s about to take over,” Annamaria whispers, her eyes locked on her sister’s grand accomplishment.
I don’t miss the curious glances Enzo and Lucky throw at each other, impressed that their baby sister is more mafia savvy than they gave her credit for.
But I quickly focus my attention on Stella, needing to see her come into her power all on her own.
“I will prefer death to snitch upon any of my new-forged kin. And let it be said that I, Stella Sofia Romano, lived and died a loyal and honorablemade womantill my very end.”
And as she says those last words—with utter conviction, like this is the moment she has lived her whole life to accomplish—my heart begins to wither in my chest.
The flaming saint card finds its way back to Stella, and with a smug smile on her lips, she holds her bleeding hand over it. Droplets of blood fall into the flames before she chucks the card to the ground and crushes the remains beneath the razor-sharp heels she loves so much.
And as the love of my life basks in her triumph, my heart begins to wilt and die.
