Don, You Were the Stand-In

Everyone in New Orleans said Don Vito Marcello was madly in love with me.

On my wedding day, he floored it and slammed into my wedding car.

He said that if I couldn't marry him, we'd die together.

He came out of it with a broken leg. I came out of it with no memory.

When I woke up, he told me, "You're my Donna."

After the wedding, he kept me carefully tucked away on his estate for five whole years.

Then he got bored.

At a family banquet, a young woman turned up looking and acting exactly like I used to.

She challenged me to a bet: if she had something I didn't, I would lose.

"I've slept with the Don.

"The Don gave me a wedding ring too. And there's more..."

She spun the cylinder of a revolver, her eyes wild.

"I'm carrying the Don's baby. Four months along.

"There's only one Donna. Let's not make the Don choose. We'll settle it with this game."

No one in the room dared to breathe.

Vito's eyes darkened as his gaze darted between us.

He'd just opened his mouth to speak when I cut him off.

"No need to fight over it. The title's yours."

Vito whipped his head toward me and fixed me with a hard stare.

He didn't know yet that I'd gotten my memory back.

Before I lost it, the man I truly loved was Luca Salerno.

He was a lunatic, just like me.

Vito is finished.

"Serafina, let me explain. I told Vera not to run her mouth at the family banquet. But she insisted on provoking you—"

Vito turned to me and reached for my hand.

I put a hand on his chest and pushed him toward Vera.

Vito stumbled, and Vera took his arm, smiling like she'd just won a bet.

"Why so nervous, Don Marcello? Haven't you always said you're afraid I'll upset her?"

She gave me a sidelong look and tapped the gun. "Looks to me like she's nothing special. Just a bunny that doesn't bite."

She pulled Vito closer to her.

"Let's go, Don Marcello. If she doesn't care, there's no reason for me to waste my time on her."

Vito didn't move.

He pressed his lips together and frowned at me.

It was as if he were searching my cold face for the answer he wanted.

The look on his face almost made me laugh.

I doubted he could handle the answer I was about to give him.

I lifted my chin.

"First, sleeping with Vito is nothing to brag about," I said slowly.

I paused and looked at Vera. "I've slept with him for five years. I got tired of it a long time ago."

The smile on Vera's face froze.

"Second, the Marcello family has only one wedding ring."

I held up my hand to show her the black-gold ring on my finger. "This one. It's the symbol of the Marcello family, not some second-rate trinket you can buy."

Vera looked down at her own ring, madness churning in her eyes.

Several family members hurried to smooth things over.

"Donna, that's enough. Vera's hotheaded. It's not worth getting her worked up."

"She has a gun. Don't turn tonight into a bloodbath."

I just smiled.

Hotheaded? Clearly she has no idea what people in our world call me.

La Bella Pazza. The beautiful madwoman.

A name might not suit you, but a nickname always fits.

"Third, Vito couldn't bear to put me through childbirth, so he said he'd find someone else to give him an heir."

I stared straight into Vera's eyes. "Looks like he found you."

Vera couldn't hold her smile any longer, and her grip on the gun tightened.

I snapped my fingers and nodded at her pleasantly.

"Even if I handed you my place as Donna, you couldn't hold on to it."

The room fell so quiet I could hear everyone breathing.

It was a long moment before people began stepping in, one by one, to smooth things over for me.

"The Donna still loves the Don. She's only saying that because she's angry. Nobody gives up being Donna just like that."

"Everyone knows the Don loves the Donna most. It's a misunderstanding, that's all."

Vito visibly relaxed.

He let go of Vera and walked toward me with a smile.

But I went around him and stopped right in front of Vera.

"I mean it. You can have my place as Donna." I smiled at her. "But it will cost you."

She lifted her chin, trying to look defiant. "What do you want?"

I leaned close to her ear and said softly, "I want your baby."

Vera's face tightened. "After the baby's born, it'll be mine, of course..."

I cut her off with a smile. "Don't get the wrong idea."

In one quick move, I slipped under her arm and snatched the revolver from her hand.

I moved so fast she didn't even have time to scream before the gun was in my palm.

I met her vicious stare.

"When I say I want it, I mean right now," I said evenly.