Chapter 2

But it was my father, Richard Ottaviani, who answered. I kept my voice low. "Father, Maria is about to hand the arsenal Mother left me to a Moretti informant, in God's name. Things are unstable right now. If the Moretti Family comes back at us..."

On the other end, my father cut me off, his voice thick with displeasure, "Alessia, you always keep score.

"Lorenzo told me about it. He brought Maria in to be the public face of the Family's transition. She's backed by a bishop who can help us go legitimate."

My knuckles went white around the phone.

My father went on lecturing me, "Interpol is watching us. The only way to protect the Family's assets is to clean up our public image. That's what it means to see the big picture. Do you even understand?"

So even my father, who had already stepped down, had been talked into Maria's act.

I gave a cold laugh and hung up on him.

The phone rang again. This time it was my mother.

"My darling. Have they been mistreating you?"

My mother, Vittoria Ottaviani, was the Family's true iron empress, the woman every mafia family in Europe feared.

"I've already sent the plane back for you. That arsenal was my coronation gift to you. Anyone who touches it, I'll send to meet their god."

Her words lifted a weight from my chest.

I shot Carlos a cold look as he wiped Maria's tears, then turned and drove to the airport.

I had barely arrived when Lorenzo called, sounding thoroughly out of patience. "Alessia, where have you run off to? I hear you made Maria cry again today?

"Can't you grow up? The Family's White Dove initiative is at a critical stage. We need Maria's saintly image to keep the politicians calm.

"Enough. Maria says she's going to the red-light district to do relief work, so you'll go in her place. Wash some of that sin off yourself and stop acting so self-righteous!"

Even though I hadn't blown up in front of them this time, the story was repeating itself anyway.

"Lorenzo," I laughed softly into the phone, and my voice came out pure ice, "Mom has arranged a different baptism for me. I'll leave the red-light district to your holy Maria."

"Alessia! Are you defying the Don? Maria said the East End tempers a person better than anywhere, and she only offered to go there to atone for you. You should be grateful!"

At the words “red?light district”, I let out a cold laugh.

There it was. The mask was off.

In my last life they sent me there, and the Moretti Family came for me that same night.

I only learned, as I lay dying, why Lorenzo and Carlos were so fanatically devoted to Maria.

Lorenzo was an orphan my mother took in.

He had taken the Don's chair, but his claim to it had never been legitimate.

Maria had promised to use the Church's influence on his behalf, so that under the cover of going legitimate he could swallow that legal empire worth billions whole, bring my mother and me down, and become the real king of the underworld.

And Carlos, the Family's killer, had come to hate living in the shadows.

Maria fed him the lie that once she was the Family's heir, she would give Carlos every secret arms route under my control, along with the private force my mother had left me.

To feed their petty, grasping ambitions, both men willingly did whatever Maria told them.

This time, I left early.

I wanted to see how they would deal with the fallout.

Before leaving the family estate, I had installed hidden cameras in every corner.

Now I sat in an airport lounge, swirling champagne, watching the feed on my tablet.

On the screen, my arrogant brother Lorenzo was tenderly cradling Maria's face in both hands.

"Don't worry. I've driven that sinner Alessia out. This Family's future belongs to a soul like yours."

Maria leaned into him, her smile perfectly pure.

"God says everyone deserves a chance to change. I'm willing to carry the Family's burden for her, for now."

"Of course. I'm going to announce that you are the Family's true heir."

In another room, Maria leaned against Carlos's shoulder, looking heartbreakingly beautiful through her tears.

"Carlos, I'm so stupid. I lost Alessia's things and she's going to hate me forever... Lord, punish me."

Carlos kissed the tears off her face, his whole expression soft with pity.

"Don't be afraid. A witch with that much blood on her hands doesn't deserve any of it. I'll go to the Family council myself and propose that you take over everything she owns. Consider it God's reward."

Watching all this, I felt a wave of nausea rise in my stomach.