"Does everyone have a tattoo?"
She nods. "It's for all of the servant girls."
"It's so degrading to strip you of your name."
"Taking our names from us is the least degrading of the things they've done," she says, handing me a towel. When I get out of the bath, she moisturizes my skin with three different lotions before sealing it all in with a body oil.
She’s washing her hands when the wall clock chimes, marking the hour complete.
The double doors of the room are thrown open. Multiple women in uniform step inside.
They make me sit in front of the vanity and get to work on my face. I try not to think about what's to come. I try not to think about what I'm getting ready for.
Right as they're about to finish, Mrs. V enters the room. She browses the clothes rack and selects a copper-colored maxi dress.
"This one," she says.
I suck in a breath. The dress is beautiful, but it's meant to be worn as lingerie. It's made of some sheer material from the bust down.
They make me wear a bra that makes my breasts nearly spill out of the neckline. And then they slip the dress over my body.
I look at my reflection in the mirror.
From the waist up, I never looked more beautiful. The copper of the dress looks beautiful with my brown hair and dark eyes.
But the rest of it is utter humiliation. The sheer portion of the dress leaves nothing to the imagination. All I’m wearing underneath is a tiny thong that barely covers my sex.
My cheeks burn, but it doesn't show under the full-coverage foundation.
“Just one more thing,” Mrs. V says.
She retrieves a pill bottle. My heart immediately spikes with dread. I can see the little purple pills inside—the very ones Sarah warned me about.
"What is that?" I ask.
"Something to take the edge off," she says, handing me one.
Just as I take it from her, my mother enters the room. Her eyes widen in surprise when she sees me, the only indication that she thinks I look good.
Her eyes drift to the purple pill in my hand. She cocks her head at it, and I immediately know that it's over for me.
"My daughter doesn't like pills," she tells Mrs. V. "Dissolve it in water and make her drink it instead."
They drop the pill into a glass of water. I stare at the faint purple liquid that's going to alter my brain chemistry. I have no choice but to drink it.
I can’t help but feel like I’ve lost.
It’s going to take divine intervention to get me out of this mess now.
5
DANTE
Don Savastano has beheaded men for lesser crimes.
He's not going to be happy when he finds out that I've defied one of his orders. But that's just a risk I'm going to have to take.
When I join the party again, a ruddy-cheeked Italian man finds me almost immediately. There's a cerulean-blue mask covering his face, but I recognize him as Luigi Esposito. He's one of our allies, but he's also one of the men I've been trying to avoid this afternoon.
