The Family Never Forgives

At four in the morning, I woke up like usual and dialed my makeup artist's number.She sounded confused. "The Valenti family called last night. They said the wedding's off. You didn't know?"I bolted out of the bedroom. Dante Valenti stood in a custom tailored suit, heading for the door with his parents.His father, Enzo Valenti, was the old Don's Sottocapo in Nooklyn. He had over 30 Capos under him and controlled every gray market operation across New Yis's boroughs.His mother, Carmela Costa, wore thick gold chains around her neck year-round."Where are you going? Why didn't anyone tell me the wedding was canceled?"Carmela walked over with a fake smile plastered on her face. "Serena, you got pregnant out of nowhere. Calling off the wedding is for your own good. People in our circle talk. If you walked down the aisle with a belly, where would that leave the Valenti name?"Then the door shut.I stood alone in the empty living room. My wedding dress hung on the bedroom rack, wh

Before I left, I needed to visit my parents' graves one last time.I bought two bouquets of white roses and a bottle of the Grappa that Papa loved.When I pushed open the bedroom door, the fruit basket I had prepared was knocked over on the floor.I had shipped blood oranges, figs, and candied lemons from Sicania. Every single item was something my parents loved when they were alive.All of it had been half eaten and tossed everywhere.Liliana sat on my bed clapping for her child. "Eat more, cara. It's free fruit anyway."I rushed over and shoved her aside. "Those were for my parents! What gives you the right to touch them?"Dante burst into the room. He only saw Liliana stumble back a step.He slapped me hard enough to knock me to the floor."You're going to fight over a few pieces of fruit? It was bad enough when you threw a fit over the dowry, but now you're being cheap about fruit too?"Liliana immediately covered her face and started crying. "I'm so sorry. I didn't know.

Liliana stood in the doorway on crutches. "Dante, what are you talking about?"Dante held the surgical record in front of her face. Liliana glanced at it and sighed."That's fake. She's obviously upset and made a fake report to get your sympathy."Then her voice cracked with tears. "Dante, I'm sorry. I've secretly loved you for so long. I knew you were with Serena, so I never dared to say anything. I could only trick myself with stupid games and pretend I was your woman. I didn't mean to cause you trouble."I'll leave right now. I'll take the baby and go."The child wailed in her arms. She comforted him while stuffing clothes into her suitcase.Dante softened. He put the clothes back in the closet and took the baby from her, patting him gently."It's not your fault. Stay as long as you want. She's the one who's paranoid all the time. I try to explain things to her and she won't listen."Let's see where she can go without me. She'll come crawling back within a month."Liliana t

Watching him beg so pathetically only made the fire in my chest burn hotter.Back then, the wedding date kept getting pushed back. Papa's heart grew weaker, and Mamma deteriorated day by day.I begged him the same way he was begging me now.I told him the dowry could be negotiated. I told him Papa's body would not last much longer and asked if we could just have the wedding first. I even said please. He never softened once.Enzo and Carmela said to my face, "Your dowry is practically nothing and you still have the nerve to make demands?"Dante sat beside them without saying a word.My parents just kept waiting and hoping until, one by one, they died. Now he wanted me to give in? Too late."Thank God you looked down on me because at least I finally saw your true face. Selfish, fake, full of lies. I wasted eight years on you."Get out. If you come back again, I'll beat you every time I see you."I grabbed the hoe leaning against the wall and swung it at him. The iron blade flew

I heard what happened next from Zia Rosaria. Her niece worked as a nurse in New Yis.Liliana brought the baby and caused a scene outside the Valenti family villa for an entire week."The Valenti family tricks people and steals their money! They made me have their baby and then divorced me without paying a cent of child support!"She knelt on the cement ground in the middle of summer while the baby wailed under the sun. A cardboard sign next to her was covered in accusations.People on the street did not know the full story. Word spread from one person to ten and from ten to a hundred.The Valenti family scandal spread through the entire mafia circle.For an ordinary family, this would just be a scandal, but the Valentis were not an ordinary family.In their world, reputation was everything. Once your reputation was ruined, people refused to pay protection money, business partners looked down on you, and the five Don families at the top reckoned that if you could not even manage