One day, I’d be Don Damiano.
Power clings to my father, giving him an aura that very few people possess. I sensed it that day he came to Milbray to handpick me as his son. Power means safety. Power means being able to protect the ones you love.
But power can be a double-edged sword. Power attracts danger.
That day when I was fifteen and Dad asked me to become a soldier, I hesitated before I gave my reply. “Will I get hurt?” I asked him.
I heard scoffing noises behind me. Dad’s men thought I was a coward, but I didn’t care. I wanted the truth.
Dad looked displeased. “My son, I brought you here to speak to you in front of my men because I thought you were brave.”
“I’m asking for Lucy’s sake. It would upset her if I got hurt, and she’s shed too many tears already. I don’t want to be the reason she cries.”
“Who’s Lucy?” one of the capos asked.
“My sister.”
The man waved a dismissive hand. “Eh, I wouldn’t worry so much about your sister.”
“Iwillworry about my sister, sir,” I said tightly, my fists clenching at my sides.
I met Dad’s gaze and held it. I’d do what Dad asks of me. I’d break the law. I’d hurt people if that’s what he wants. But loving Lucy any less than with my whole heart?
Unthinkable.
I didn’t think he’d be offended by me loving Lucy more than him, Mom, and Ariana, and I was right. Love was not the reason he adopted me.
“I can’t see the future,” Dad told me. “Malus is a complicated and dangerous city, and it needs strong leaders. The best thing you can do to protect Lucy, to protect this family, is join me.”
I could see the sense in that. I’m a Barone, and that comes with respect as well as danger. Better that I face that danger head-on to shelter Lucy from it.
“Then I accept.”
Dad smiled, and his capos welcomed me.
When I turned eighteen three months ago, I became a made man, and I swore theomertà. The oath of honor. If I break that oath, I’ll be punished.
A Barone man keeps his mouth shut.
He does not tell his wife his secrets.
He does not tell his sister his secrets.
We keep our women out of our business for their own protection.
Loyalty to the family above all else.
Honor above life itself.
I swore that oath knowing that I was already breaking it. I was living a lie, concealing from my father that my sister and I did not share any blood. The lie has become part of me, knitting itself into my soul. It can never be undone because that lie is the only thing keeping Lucy safe.
I may not love Carlucci Barone, and he may not love me, but he respects me, and I respect him.
He has no such respect for my sister, and neither does the woman we call Mom. It pains me that they look upon Lucy with disdain. She’s the daughter they never wanted and never valued. I hoped that over the years they would learn to love her quick wits, her determination, or at least her beauty. They find her wits irritating because she talks back. They loathe her determination and call it stubbornness. They prefer Ariana’s polished looks to Lucy’s natural loveliness.
I can’t change how they feel about her, but they will afford her protection as long as they think of her as a Barone. The sister of their prized son.
The lie I’m carrying is a deadly one. I fear what they’ll do to Lucy if they ever find out the truth.
