Chapter 4

Salina thought I was about to break. Her eyes lit up.

"Matt, is she about to cry?"

"I knew she couldn't keep it up for long."

She raised her phone and pointed it at me.

"Come on, Evelyn. Look at the camera and say you were wrong."

"Just admit you're not worthy of Matt, and I'll open the door."

I looked up at her.

"Salina, are you sure you want to keep going?"

She paused, then let out a scornful laugh.

"You're threatening me? At this point?"

"Evelyn, you don't actually think you're the De Luca family's donna, do you?"

"Your position was given to you by Matt."

"What he gave, he can take back."

I straightened slowly.

"Then ask him whether the De Luca family can still take anything back from me."

A shadow passed through Matt's eyes.

"Evelyn, what do you mean by that?"

I looked at him through the curtain of rain.

"It means you had better pray nothing happens to me tonight."

"Otherwise the De Luca family will be gone from New York by morning."

The crowd laughed again. They thought I was just talking tough.

Salina laughed so hard she bent at the waist.

"Gone? Who's going to make them gone? You?"

"Evelyn, has the cold frozen your brain?"

Matt's expression darkened.

"Enough."

He looked up at me, his voice dropping low.

"Evelyn, don't overestimate yourself."

"Everything you have belongs to the De Luca family in the end."

"The connections you've built, you built them through the De Luca family."

"Without the De Luca family, you are nothing."

I looked at him, and the last trace of pain inside me turned to ash.

"Fine."

"Matt, then let's find out."

"Let's see whether leaving you makes me nothing."

Salina did not like the look in my eyes.

She wanted to see me cry, wanted to see me beg, wanted to see me stripped of every shred of dignity in front of everyone.

But I gave her none of that.

So the smile faded from her face, degree by degree.

"Evelyn, you really can take a beating."

She handed her umbrella to someone nearby and walked to the electronic lock herself.

"Since you won't admit you were wrong, let's make this harder."

She pressed another button.

The automatic blackout blinds around the conservatory began to descend, heavy dark panels sliding down over the transparent glass one by one.

The light was cut off. My breathing lurched.

Enclosed.

Dark.

The sound of water.

All three closed in at once, and my vision went black at the edges.

Salina stood outside the door, watching me through the last remaining gap.

"Didn't you say you were going to make the De Luca family disappear?"

"Go ahead."

"Get yourself out of there first."

The blinds dropped completely. The conservatory fell into near darkness.

Only the overhead light remained, flickering like a fault in the wiring, on and off, on and off.

The water kept falling. Each drop sounded like rain leaking through the roof of that old warehouse.

I heard my mother calling to me.

"Evelyn, crawl toward the outside."

"Don't look back."

I bit down hard on my lower lip. The taste of blood spread through my mouth.

I could not fall. Not yet.

There were still people outside waiting to see me humiliated.

Matt was still standing there, waiting for me to bow my head and surrender.

I felt my way toward the corner.

There was a wrought iron plant stand in the conservatory, used for decoration.

I gathered every last bit of strength and lifted it, then drove it into the glass door.

The first blow left only a single crack.

The people outside startled.

Someone called out: "Has she lost her mind?"

"That's reinforced glass. She'll never break through."

"Evelyn, stop fighting it. Just admit you were wrong and be done with it."

I did not stop.

A second blow.

A third.

The impact numbed my wrists. The web of my hand split open, and blood dripped to the floor, mixing with the water.

The cracks spread wider with every strike.

Salina finally panicked.

She slapped the door and shouted: "Evelyn, stop it."

"If that glass breaks, you'll get hurt."

I laughed coldly.

"Now you're worried about me getting hurt?"

Salina went pale and turned to look at Matt.

"Matt, she's really going to break through."

Matt's brow furrowed hard.

"Evelyn, stop."

"You're only making this uglier."

I swung the stand and brought it down again.

With a sharp crack, one corner of the glass door finally gave way.

Cold air rushed in.

I drew back my foot and drove it hard into the break.

It's about time the Falcone family showed up.

I want every last one of them to pay.