Unless he was only pretending to be shocked, and he planned out how he would react beforehand. He had an alibi for the time of Mom’s death. He was in a casino with Don Carlucci, the head of the Barone crime family, and several of their capos.
But where was Pietro when Mom had her “accident?”
My gaze shifts back to the man leering at me through the glass. I shake my head, disbelief tumbling through me as tears drip down my cheeks. “No.No. You couldn’t have done that.” My voice cracks on a sob. “Why would you do that?”
“Orders are orders, Adora,” he says with a snicker, and turns away, vanishing out of sight.
A scream tears from my throat, and I double over in agony. I can hear Dad ordering Pietro to kill his wife, and to make it look like an accident. If it’s true, I don’t understand how either of them could do that to an innocent woman.
It’s not true.
Pietro just said that to be cruel.
Itcan’tbe true.
At eighteen, Mom married the former Montoni don’s eldest son. Their wedding photo once hung in the living room. In it, Dad was young and handsome, but there was already a gleam of cruelty in his eyes, and I don’t doubt that he had already murdered at least one man. Mom’s smile was heartbreakinglyhopeful. She was a beautiful mafia bride decked in satin, pearls, and lace, and her face didn’t yet have that haunted look that I knew so well.
The cold bites into me and my shock turns to despair.
Darkness presses in around me.
I beat on the glass, pleading with the man who might be Mom’s murderer. “Pietro, let me back in. It’s freezing out here. Please unlock this door.”
But he doesn’t return.
I sink into a crouch, my arms wrapped around my body. Water freezes on my skin as it drips from my hair. I shake with enough violence to make my teeth rattle, and the wind carves across my body like a razor.
The minutes tick past.
I beat my hand on the glass until I’m bruised, and I yell for someone to save me. My voice fails before anyone comes.
4
Vincenzo
Six weeks earlier
Istand in the golden afternoon light outside the Regal Grand Ballroom, turning a small velvet box over in my hands. Inside is the necklace I commissioned. An eagle and a raven intertwined, their wings forming a heart, wrought in gold.
It cost more than my car.
I snap the box open one more time, studying the delicate necklace. The jeweler outdid himself. The birds look almost alive, caught mid-flight, bound together in a heart shape. A symbol of unity between our families. Will Adora Montoni think it’s beautiful, or is she used to diamonds and rubies and think it’s tacky?
I sigh and tuck the box into my jacket pocket. I have no fucking idea what women like.
When I check my watch, I notice I’m forty minutes late. Mom is going to kill me, but the Dervishi ambush is something I didn’t plan for. They jumped me three blocks from my car.
I hold my hands up, examining them. There’s blood under my fingernails, and the cuts on my knuckles are still bleeding slightly.
Great. I’m meeting my future wife with the blood of our enemies on my hands. That’ll make a fantastic first impression.
I glance toward the building’s grand entrance. The Montonis clearly spared no expense. It looks like a wedding venue, not a place for a small engagement party, but what do I know?
My family’s cars are parked in a row. My father’s black Mercedes. My brother’s sedan. Dante’s SUV. But there are no other vehicles.
Are the Montonis late? Or did they grow tired of waiting for me and leave? That would be fitting, given how this day has gone.
I take a deep breath and start toward the entrance. My ribs ache where one of the Dervishis landed a solid kick. I’m going to have spectacular bruises tomorrow.
