I follow more slowly with the others.
I never appreciated how large Ferro’s mansion was, never even gave it much thought while I came here and plotted this night with him.But it’s vast.More than large enough to fit all the men who came here this morning, to swallow us up like the black hole I always saw it as.My first instinct is still to run from here and never look back.Just as it was on the night my cousin Nico first brought me here to meet Ferro.
Nico is here too, also covered in blood, his face as pale as a wedding gown.I hope mine isn’t that way, but given how alike we look, I’m betting it is.I wave to him, but he doesn’t see, his eyes glassy, his shoulders stooped.
I know I don’t share that with him.
And I know I won’t ever run from here.Goldie is in this black hole of a house.And from now on, she goes where I go.Willing or not.Forever.
Chapter2
GIANNA
I’m in a strange bed,in a scary house, the room smells of dust and rot and old wood.My sister Chiara is in my arms, shaking, I’m holding her as tight as I can, as tight as she’ll let me.She’s my younger sister, but she’s actually the stronger of the two of us.I’ve always known that, but right now, as I try to comfort her while shaking twice as hard as she is, I am certain I’m right.
Every time I let thoughts into my mind I see the same thing.
We’re at the beach house—my mom and dad, my twin sisters.The sky is pitch black and we’re playing Monopoly on the terrace, laughing, and arguing.The living room is filled with our security guards, including Matteo, the man I’ve fallen for so desperately I threw all caution to the wind.The man I’d given my virginity to—my most sacred possession, if my father, the capo of one of the five families that rule the New York Mafia has anything to say about it.I decided he doesn’t.Because I chose Matteo as the man I want to spend the rest of my life with.
But I trusted the wrong man.
The Monopoly game with the family was the perfect end to a great day.But then one of our guards, Rafaelle, came rushing at us, his white shirt covered with blood, his eyes crazed as he yelled for us to run.
We ran.
Across the dark garden, pursued by men I couldn’t see and chased by their bullets.
Then my dad was shot.
But we got him on the boat.
And then Matteo appeared out of the darkness, and I was certain we were saved.
But I was wrong.More wrong than I’d ever been about anything in my entire life.
He was the one who betrayed us.And I’m afraid he used me to do it.Every magical kiss we shared was a lie.The entire magical night on which I gave myself to him was a lie.
Now my sister and I are his prisoners.
And I have no idea if my parents and my other sister are even still alive.
I know all that happened.
But the pain that knowledge brings is so absolute I’d rather lose my mind than accept it.
Chiara screamed at the man who brought the carnage to us.The tall, black-haired one who wielded a tire iron dripping in blood and all the others took orders from.Including Matteo.She yelled and cursed until she lost her voice.I barely spoke to Matteo.
Because I have nothing to say to the man who betrayed my family.And because words are useless, it’s actions that count.My dad’s been saying that since I can remember.But the advice was meant more for my older brother than me.Because what does a woman have but her words?In my world, not much.Sometimes not even that.This is one of those times.
I’m twenty-one years old and I always hated just how little freedom I was given by my father.
So I took what I wanted when I got the chance.
And destroyed everything.
Two grim-faced men enter the room my sister and I have been locked in once the sun rose.And behind them comes Matteo.
The two men grab Chiara and pull her from my arms.She’s yelling and screaming and kicking.I am too.So hard the whole room is spinning before my eyes, darkness closing in from the edges.A burning darkness.
