The overwhelming emotion is pure fear.
A woman appears at the far end of the gathering. She’s tall and willowy with long dark hair and olive-toned skin. She’s wearing tactical body armor and a pair of dress slacks. The contrast is fascinating. She strides forward, dragging Father Michael behind her. The old priest stumbles along, walking as fast as his awkward robes will allow.
“I’ve been told, ah, that I am going to officiate this, uh, union,” Father Michael stutters, looking older and frailer than I’ve ever seen him before.
“Skip to the end, Father,” the woman says. Her accent is vaguely Hispanic. “If you would be so kind.”
“Yes, of course.” Father Michael clears his throat. He looks to my father, who can only mumble stupidly. Gabriel stares at me, his expression a mixture of confusion and fascination. My other brother, Dominic, has his arm around Mama to keep her steady.
Father Michael talks fast. He skips straight to the vows but doesn’t bother asking us to repeat after him. Mass simply nods when it’s his turn. Father Michael turns to me, and I can tell that he’s expecting something.
Until the situation finally cracks through my wool-filled head.
Mass is trying to marry me.
He just murdered my arranged fiancé in front of the entire New York criminal underworld, and now he’s stepping in to take my hand instead.
But this is crazy. I don’t want this man. I’d rather marry Sal Mancini a million times than get anywhere near Massimo Cardone.
He was a horrible mistake.
That was one night. A single, stupid, passionate night. A good night, but the sort of night that infected me. It gave me Rosie, but it also broke something in me.
Left me twisted and wrong.
I only figured out who he was after it happened, and I swore I’d never go near him again. I told myself I’d keep Rosie far away.
How did he find out?
I didn’t tell anyone, not a single living soul.
There’s no way he should be here. We’ve kept my daughter as quiet as we could.
But he found her anyway.
And now he means to get to her through me.
“I won’t do it,” I whisper, shaking with fear, but this is my baby’s future. I can’t let her get sucked into the orbit of a Dragon.
Father Michael looks panicked. “Ah, I don’t think she means that, of course. Perhaps she just didn’t hear me well enough?”
“I’m not going to marry this man,” I say loudly and try to step away.
But Mass holds my arm tightly. His grip’s like iron.
“She said the words, priest. Keep going.”
Father Michael’s eyes widen. Mass stares back blankly and waits.
“I didn’t say them! I won’t do it! Please?—”
“By the power vested in me by God and New Jersey, I now pronounce you man and wife,” Father Michael says quickly, ignoring my pleas.
This can’t be happening. This is impossible. I was willing to sell myself to Sal because I’d heard he was a halfway decent man. He promised my parents he’d raise my daughter well and give her whatever she needed. He even said he and I could live like friends at most if that’s all I wanted.
I was getting some respectability, and he was getting the family he’d always wanted.
But this is too much. Mass is dangerous. He’s one of the most ruthless, powerful, and vicious monsters on the face of this earth.
