At five p.m., a team arrived. Hair, makeup, styling. Professional women who transformed me with practiced efficiency; another kind of art I hadn’t realized existed.
I barely recognized myself in the mirror.
This woman looked confident. Powerful. Like she belonged in Cesare's world.
Anna wouldn't recognize me either. The last time she'd seen me, I was in paint-stained jeans, hair in a messy bun, running late for our coffee date as usual. That felt like years ago instead of two weeks past.
Would she even want to know this version of me? Designer dresses and mafia events and lies about family emergencies?
The performance was getting easier. Or maybe I was losing myself.
The elevator opened at six-thirty sharp.
Cesare stepped out, already in his tuxedo, and stopped when he saw me.
For a long moment, he just stared.
"You look..." He trailed off, approaching slowly.
"Like your wife?" I finished.
"Like a fucking masterpiece."
His hand traced the diamond necklace I'd found on the dresser, fingers grazing my collarbone and raising goosebumps.
"Thank you," I said. "For sending Piero."
Cesare's hands stilled. "He told you everything you need to know?"
"About Viktor. About what tonight really means." I paused. "About you, actually."
His jaw tightened, gray eyes narrowing. "What did he say about me?"
"That you spent two hours finding the perfect dress. That you personally selected the earrings. That you called him at six a.m. because you were worried about me."
"Piero talks too much."
"Does he? Or are you just not used to people seeing past your masks?"
He turned to face me fully. "What I do or don't do for you is strategic, Paola. Don't confuse necessity with sentiment."
"Right. Strategic," I said softly. "Like this morning was strategic?"
His eyes darkened. "This morning was inevitable."
"That's not an answer."
"It's the only answer I have."
Finally, he continued, all business: "Tonight isn't a celebration. It's a reminder. To my allies that I'm still strong, to my enemies that I'm still dangerous."
"And what am I? What do you need me to be?"
"You're proof that I can secure what I want. That the Lombardo alliance holds." Cesare stepped closer, his fingers skimming over my waist, leaving a wake of heat and want.
"Are you ready for this?" he asked. "Every Don in the Northeast will be there. All measuring me. And by extension, measuring you."
I thought about what Piero said:You're a Monti now. Act like it.
