This is it.
This is the moment I’ve been waiting so long for.
The man I love is finally going to ask me to marry him.
Damiano takes my chin in his thumb and forefinger, and murmurs, “Lucy. My love. Will you plot and scheme with me forever?”
I burst out laughing.
“I’m serious, Lucy. Will you be my better half? The brains and the beauty. The heart and the soul of us. Plot and scheme with me. Love me. Marry me.”
I rub the tip of my nose against his, remembering how handsome he was the first day I saw him. How I couldn’t help but crave to be his even then. “From the first moment I laid eyeson you, Damiano, I saw only you. Loved only you. But you’ve got one thing wrong.”
“What’s that, my love?”
“I’m the brains. You’re the beauty.”
He kisses me, his warm lips moving over mine. “I doubt that, my love. You are most certainly the brains, but I happen to think you’re the beauty as well. I’m impatient to tell the whole world that you’re mine, so let’s go buy you the most beautiful engagement ring in all of Malus. One that you choose.”
I think of the bland, careless ring Andreas gave me. The one I threw at his corpse. This time, I’ll choose my own ring. With the man I love.
“The perfect ring for me,” I agree, smiling. “I’ll be so proud to wear it.”
EPILOGUE
Damiano
Istride into the warehouse with Lucy’s hand in mine, and a wickedly sharp axe resting on my shoulder. All Dad’s capos are assembled and waiting to be addressed by the new don. From today, they’ll be my capos, assuming none of them walk out of here, or end up in pieces on the floor.
My bride-to-be looks stunning in a sumptuous wine-red dress, with a vintage diamond necklace around her throat. On her ring finger is a beautiful, ornate diamond engagement ring. Lucy chose the ring herself, and I put it onto her finger and sealed our engagement with a kiss. Now she’s mine forever.
In the middle of the concrete floor is Dad’s desk, the one that he once sat behind in his office in this very warehouse. I walk over and stare at it for a long time, then lift my eyes to the capos.
“I always hated this desk. When Don Carlucci sat behind it, it made me feel like a schoolboy being told off in the principal’s office. Fuck that feeling.”
I take the axe from my shoulder, raise it over my head in both hands, and bring the blade down in the middle of the desk. The wood splits but doesn’t break. I raise the axe and bring it down again, and then again. On the third hit, the desk breaks in two. On the seventh, there’s nothing but splinters of what was once an identifiable piece of furniture.
Some of the capos look confused. Others seem bordering on outrage.
“We’re not schoolboys,” I tell them. “We’re men, and we should feel like men. Come with me.”
I take Lucy by the hand and lead our men to the office that now belongs to us. The room is now dominated by a table where we can all sit together. Discuss. Plan. The table is round so that we may all see each other, though one of the chairs is taller and more ornate than the others.
The don’s chair.
My chair.
“This is where we’ll conduct family business. I will listen to you. I will respect you. In return, I ask for your loyalty and respect.” I gaze around thoughtfully. “But something’s missing. Antonio, Giovanni,” I call out, and a moment later they enter, carrying a second tall, ornate chair between them, and place it next to its twin.
Two dons’ chairs.
One for the king and one for the queen.
I walk around the table and place my hand on the back of the second chair. “Does anyone have any objection to Lucy joining my side? If you do, leave now, and there will be no repercussions this day. But after today, I make no such promise. I will not tolerate any man disrespecting or undermining my bride. She will be by my side forever, not because I bestow power upon her, but because she has earned it. Any man who questions her place questions me.”
I place the axe on the table, and the sharpened blade glints in the light.
No one moves. No one speaks.
