Chapter 2

Dante did not come home that night.

The next morning, I took Luca’s passport, school forms, and medical records from the safe. He stood beside the desk, staring at the school emergency contact form.

Dante’s name was listed first.

Luca looked at it until his eyes turned red, then touched the number with one finger.

“Mommy, can you take Daddy off?”

“If I get sick at school, he won’t come anyway. The teacher can call you.”

I printed a new form, removed Dante’s number, and left mine with the number of our family doctor in Sicily. Luca watched in silence.

Later that morning, I went to the private airport. Our flight to Sicily was scheduled for five days later. The house, doctor, and school were ready. Dante always said New York was Luca’s home, yet Luca had spent most of his life waiting to be chosen inside it.

The wedding planner called on the drive back.

“Madam, the Donna ceremony is in three days. The flowers, seating plan, and dinner menu are confirmed. Do you need any changes?”

It would have been the seventh wedding Dante had promised me. For ten years, he had said he would give Luca and me a formal place in the Vitale family. Whenever the date approached, Lucia faced another crisis, and Dante left after promising another ceremony.

“Cancel it.”

“All of it?”

“Yes.”

“Does Don Vitale know?”

“He will.”

When we returned, a black gift box sat on the living room table.

The housekeeper lowered his voice. “Don Vitale sent this for Master Luca.”

Inside were custom safety glasses, training gloves, and a range badge engraved with Luca’s name. Tiny white diamonds lined the edge. Five words were carved into the back.

For my brave son.

Luca’s eyes brightened when he picked it up. For one moment, I thought he might still forgive Dante.

Then he placed the badge back in the box.

“It can’t take me to safety training.”

His fingertip rested on his name.

“Daddy didn’t put it on me himself.”

I closed the box and moved it aside.

That afternoon, I packed his clothes, medicine, schoolbooks, and documents. At the bottom of my study drawer, I found the memory album I had kept since he was born.

Every page carried another reason for Dante’s absence. A family meeting. Trouble at the port. Lucia’s inheritance. Another promise that he would come next time.

Whenever Luca asked about him, I said Dante was busy, that he loved him, and that he only needed more time. Eventually, Luca stopped asking.

I put the album in the fireplace and watched the flames consume every excuse I had written.

Then I took the Donna ceremony gown from the back of my closet. Pale silver thread ran through the skirt. Dante once said I would wear it when he presented me to New York’s underworld as his wife, with Luca beside me as his acknowledged son and heir.

I had waited ten years for that day.

The fabric caught fire as the door opened.

Dante stopped in the doorway.

For one stunned second, he only stared. Then his expression changed, and he lunged toward the fireplace.“What the hell are you doing?”

He reached into the flames and tried to drag the gown out. The fire scorched his fingers, forcing him to jerk his hand back, but his eyes remained fixed on the burning silver fabric.

Shock gave way to anger.

“That was your ceremony gown.”

He turned to me, as if I were the one destroying something precious between us.

“It was one birthday. Was that really enough for you to burn the gown for our wedding?”

His voice tightened.

“How long are you going to keep this up?”

“It was one birthday,” he said. “Luca is young. He will forget. Do you have to ruin our wedding and turn this into something so ugly?”

“He will not forget.”

“Lucia and Nico have no one. What is wrong with me taking care of them?”

“Nothing.”

He had not expected that answer.

“If I am not fit to become the Vitale Donna, let Lucia stand beside you. Let Nico call you his father in front of the family.”

Silence filled the room.

Dante looked at me as if my refusal to argue unsettled him more than anger would have.

“You are becoming impossible.”

He left and shut the door behind him.

Soon afterward, two maids whispered in the hallway.

“The Don took Master Nico to the range and pinned the badge on him himself.”

“Everyone knows he is more patient with Nico than with his own son. Mrs. Lucia already looks like the lady of this house.”

Luca appeared at the bedroom door with the black gift box in his arms. He handed it to me without looking at the badge.

“Mommy, don’t pack this.”

“Daddy was there when Nico earned his.”

I placed the box on the desk and took his hand.

“Then we will leave it here.”

Luca followed me back into the bedroom. I packed his passport, school records, medical file, and medicine while the estate lights came on outside.

Five days remained before Sicily.