He watched me for a moment, his face expressionless. “I was one of the pack.”
“But now?”
“I’m a lone wolf.”
“Why? Why’d you save me?”
“You were the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen. So innocent that it broke my heart. You had the butterfly clip in your hair, and all you wanted to do was color. I had never experienced that before, something powerful enough to change the course of my actions. You made me see something different. I saw you, Mariposa. I wanted your innocence to live.”
He said these powerful words, but without an ounce of emotion. He could’ve been talking about what to wear to go outside—if it was cold enough to need a jacket.
“At what cost?” His or mine, I wasn’t sure which I asked for.
“A vein,” he said. “Another day.”
“That’s all you’re willing to give me?” I said.
“Today.”
I knew this was a deal breaker. He wouldn’t tell me. And did I really want to know specifics? Would it change the outcome of this arrangement? Once I was in, I was in. No getting out. He had already given me the warning. There was no doubt he was going to act on it. There was something about him that dared you to cross him, but stopped you just before you did.Think twice.
I was pretty confident, though, that even though he was one of them, he must’ve been considered a disposable man, a man who had survived the family’s long-reaching arms. Not someone exceptionally close to the family’s inner workings, or he wouldn’t be here.
Money was at stake,living, but for me, it felt like so much more. What, I had no clue, but it felt dangerous. Not something to take lightly. All of my years I craved to live, and here the chance sat before me, beating like a heart, but it came with consequences. Unhealthy veins.
“What’s it going to be on the paperwork?” Capo said, not giving me more time to think. “Your name.”
“Will I be in danger?” It was the first time I thought to ask. I was so busy being dazzled by the chance to live that I forgot about the dim veil of death.
“Yes,” he said, no hesitation. “You’ve always been in danger. I did the best I could with what I was given at the time. You being on the streets, not attracting attention to yourself, kept them off your scent, so to speak. There are other factors as well. The Faustis, for one. No one touches what belongs to them unless they have a death wish. As you can tell, I consider them family. I trust them as much as I can. However, that doesn’t change the truth. I can’t promise something that isn’t mine to give, which is complete protection against life. But I will vow to keep you safe at the cost of my own.”
“You already did, didn’t you?”
He became silent for a minute. Then he repeated, “What will it be on the paperwork?”
“Mariposa,” I said, no hesitation. “Mariposa.”
He nodded once, about to go to the door to get Rocco. I could tell he was ready to move forward.
“Capo.”
He stopped but didn’t turn.
“What…what’ll be my last name?”
“Macchiavello.” He took a breath. “Mariposa Macchiavello.” He sounded satisfied. “It’s not the name that pleases me. It’s that no matter where it came from, it came from me, and you’ll be wearing it like a fucking ring around your finger.”
He left me alone then, shutting the door behind with a softclick.
I wilted in the seat when I was alone. All of a sudden, I realized that he was the only man I would ever owe. And he knew it. He knew it at all along.
He wanted loyalty. He had secured it at all costs.
But never again would anyone, including the man who intended to be my husband, Capo Macchiavello, kill me with kindness. Because kindness didn’t kill you quickly. It ate at you slowly, like acid, until you wished you were dead.
10
Mariposa
