LOGINA large hand in a black leather glove reached over. Marco, his face grave, pushed the body off me.He took off his clean black cashmere coat and gently draped it over my shoulders, hiding most of the blood."Elena, the Dons of the Five Families are all watching."Marco leaned closer, his gaze sweeping over the mob bosses gathered around us. Every one of them was holding his breath, waiting to see what would happen next."Luca's dead. So is Sera. What should we do with everyone else in this room?"I took the white silk handkerchief he offered and calmly wiped the dried blood from my face and neck.My wounds still ached, but I didn't so much as frown.Using the armrest of a nearby sofa for support, I rose to my feet. Then, stepping over broken glass and bloodstained carpet, I slowly made my way to the dais. The seat of power.Luca's obsidian family ring, the symbol of absolute rule over Brooklyn, lay quietly beside the half-signed documents.I picked up the blood-specked ring and slid it
Sera's warm blood soaked through Luca's cashmere coat, and its heavy, metallic smell filled the air.He cradled her cooling body, broken sobs escaping his throat. Whatever was left of his composure had finally shattered.For a long time, he simply held her. Eventually, his strength gave out. He gently lowered her body onto the bloodstained carpet.Blood continued to pour from the wound in his abdomen. His injured thigh had left a dark pool beneath him, and his face had turned ashen from blood loss.But he still braced himself against the floor and dragged his battered body, inch by inch, toward me.A long, dark trail of blood stained the carpet behind him.At last, his bloodied hand closed around my ankle.He held on so hard his knuckles had gone white."Why..."Luca lifted his blood- and sweat-covered face. His cracked lips moved as he spoke hoarsely."If you'd already teamed up with Marco, if you already had all the evidence against me and could have the Commission tear me apart anyt
Luca's manic laughter died in his throat.The ballroom fell silent. Only Sera's ragged, labored breathing could be heard.Slowly, Luca turned his head. The moment his eyes met Sera's, all color drained from his face.Sera's face was covered in blood, and the white bone of her left knee was still sticking out, but at that moment, she seemed to feel no pain at all.She ripped the gag from her mouth with a trembling hand and crawled toward Luca with the last of her strength.Her nails raked Luca's cheek, leaving deep, bloody scratches."A substitute? A toy?"Her voice rose to a shriek. Tears streamed down her face, mixing with blood and grime."I'm the firstborn daughter of the Bellini family in Sicily! I have the noblest pure blood there is!"And you, some bastard who crawled out of the gutters of Brooklyn, dared to use me as a replacement for a lowborn nobody?!"Sera pointed at the unsigned asset transfer agreement on the dais, shaking."You lied to me! You said you loved me!"You said
The thuds echoed through the silent ballroom. With each blow against my boots, the most powerful Mafia boss lost another shred of dignity.I stood over the man who had once believed himself untouchable.When I was 19, he'd looked down on me in that dark, damp cellar, using every cruel method imaginable to break my spirit and mold me into his most obedient killer.Now I had broken my chains, and I was the one passing judgment.And here he was, reduced to begging for another woman and a child who wasn't even his.The sight made my stomach turn. I could barely stand to look at him.I raised my hand. Two burly gunmen in black stepped forward and hauled Sera off the floor. She hung limply between them, reeking of blood and urine.One of them forced the barrel of his submachine gun into her open mouth, knocking out two of her front teeth. Blood spilled down her chin.The countdown on the giant screen ticked toward zero."Three."I began counting, my face expressionless.Onscreen, the spinnin
On the holographic screen, the churning acid vat gave off white smoke. Nico's faint cries came through the ballroom speakers.The Dons exchanged uneasy glances. Then fists slammed against the tabletop as angry accusations erupted."Breaking the family's sacred code by sleeping with an outsider? What a disgrace!""You were going to hand our ports over to that bastard? Luca, you have no right to lead this family!"Mafia law, handed down since Prohibition, forbade sworn members from transferring a family's core businesses to illegitimate descendants who weren't of pure blood.Sera lay in a pool of her own blood, staring at the child on the screen. Then she turned toward the Dons and began screaming in protest."That's Luca's son! He's pure Sicilian! Don't listen to that crazy bitch!"She whipped her head toward me, her eyes burning with hatred."Elena! You barren freak!"You're a sterile cripple, so you can't stand seeing someone else give him a son!"Luca dumped you because you're not ev
It was Marco Ricci, my father's most trusted sworn brother. He was now chief advisor to the Commission, the Mafia's highest ruling body.After my father died, Marco had hidden his true influence to protect me, lying low at Luca's side as his number-two advisor."Let those old men on the Commission know, Uncle Marco."I wiped the rain from my face, my voice steady."It's time to cut Luca out of this family like the cancer he is."I ended the call. A moment later, I received a photo.It was from Sera.The photo showed the open kitchen of the estate. Luca was wearing an ivory cotton apron, a rare sight.Ladle in hand, he stood over a pot of seafood chowder, stirring it with an almost tender expression.Sera sat at the counter holding Nico while Luca blew on a spoonful of soup to cool it and held it to the boy's lips.The caption was pure mockery."See that? A real Mafia family needs a respectable Donna and a pure-blooded heir, not a vicious dog that only knows how to kill."I stared at th







