Chapter 2

The handler called back within the hour.

"Luna, you need to think this through."

"Every rival crew out there is at war. You show up alone with no foundation, one wrong step and you're dead."

"I've thought about it," I said.

"That territory is dangerous. If they find out who you are, nobody's coming to save you."

"I said I've made up my mind."

Long silence. I could hear him breathing.

"Two days. We'll have people ready to meet you in two."

He stopped pushing. Gave me a time and a place, and hung up.

I sat there for a bit. Then I grabbed my coat and drove to headquarters.

I still owed the old man one last thing.

Vito was buried under all the mess that came after the Don's death. Too many crews going sideways, too many meetings, too many people to manage. He wasn't touching any of the paperwork.

The family registry needed to be updated. I'd go to the records office, handle it as his son's wife.

And while I was there, I'd get my own name taken off. Clean break.

Everyone else in this family could treat me however they wanted. And they did. But Don Gallone took me in when I had nobody.

He was good to me. That much was real. I wasn't leaving New York without making sure his things were handled right.

In the Consigliere's office, I told him what I needed.

He pulled up the registry, looked through it, then looked up at me.

"Ma'am, the spouse listed under Vito Gallone is Sofia Ferraro."

He said it like he was reading off a parking ticket. "There's no family connection on file between you and the late Don. I can't help you."

I stared at him.

"That's not possible. I've been part of this family for years," I said. "All my papers are notarized."

He shook his head. "The registry has to be signed off by the Don personally. It doesn't get things wrong."

Signed off by the Don personally.

Don Gallone was not a man who let things slip.

Everyone in this family knew that. He was careful with everything. Never left loose ends.

So he was clear-headed. Sharp. All there.

And he sat down and put Sofia's name where mine should have been.

He cut me out.

Five years I slept in the chair next to his bed.

Five years I changed his bandages and turned him through the night.

And in the most important record this family keeps, I'm nowhere. I'm not listed as his daughter-in-law.

The registry was right there in black and white. Vito and Sofia had their church marriage on file.

My name just said Associate. Outside help. That's all.

Long before his hands got too weak to hold a pen, he'd already scratched me off the list.

I drove back to the estate without a word.

When I pulled into the driveway, all the lights were on.

Through the front window I could see the living room glowing warm.

Every lamp on, the furniture moved around, a pair of women's shoes by the door that weren't mine.

I walked in.

Sofia was in the kitchen wearing a linen apron.

She moved around the counter like someone who'd been living in this house for years.

Reaching for the right drawer without looking. Turning the stove down by feel.

She heard the door and looked over at me with a soft smile.

"Luna, good timing. Dinner's almost done."

Vito was on the sofa.

A boy was curled up next to him, six or seven years old, small hands tight around a toy car.

He had Vito's forehead and jaw. But the mouth was all Sofia.

The boy pulled at Vito's sleeve and looked up at me, eyes wide, a little nervous.

"Papa, is that the new nanny?"