Chapter 4

When I got to the livestock pens, I stopped dead.

Marco was lying on his stomach, so thin he barely looked human, dragging himself forward on his arms to pick scraps off the ground under the feeding trough.

A horse beside him shoved its head down to get at the food and knocked him flat, and he screamed.

"I'm sorry. This is my fault... I woke up too late."

But Marco shook his head and forced out a raw whisper.

"You're awake... as long as you're awake... that's all that matters."

I held his hand as hard as I could.

"Hold on a little longer. It's almost over."

"I've made a deal with the Cossa family, and Antonio is getting me the list. On the day of their wedding, all of Sicily will descend into chaos."

"And then I'm getting you the best prosthetics money can buy. You're going to stand beside me again, I promise."

Marco managed a nod.

But the next second, he coughed up a huge mouthful of blood, spraying it all over me.

"Marco!"

I shouted toward the door. "Doctor! Get in here!"

Several of the doctors who'd come along were standing right there, but not one of them moved.

"Are you deaf?! I told you to get over here and save him!"

"Donna, the Don said nobody treats Marco without his permission."

I couldn't believe it, but there was no time to think. I called Lucas.

"Tell the doctors to save Marco!"

There was silence on the line for two seconds, and then Lucas laughed without a trace of warmth.

"I'm not saving him."

"Cecilia, I told you. If you hurt Bianca again, there'd be a price."

"And remember this. He's dying because you wouldn't listen."

I was so angry everything went dark.

"Lucas! If you do this, I will hate you for the rest of my life!"

The words were barely out of my mouth when a baby started crying on the other end of the line.

Lucas's voice went colder.

"Don't you already hate me?"

"That's enough. I'm going to see my son. If you want Marco saved, go beg someone else."

He hung up.

I stood frozen, and then I smashed the phone on the ground.

"Lucas!"

The scream tore out of me, and the rain came down in sheets.

I knelt in the mud and held on to Marco with everything I had.

Marco's hand moved, and he managed to close it around my fingers.

"Donna... I just... thought of another story."

"I don't want to hear it! Don't you dare tell it!"

Tears blurred everything. I had never felt so helpless in my life.

"They always said you were scary, that you had no heart, that anybody who crossed you was finished..."

"But I saw you after the first time you killed someone. You hid behind the warehouse and threw up for 30 minutes..."

"You're a good person. Giving my life for you was my... my..."

He never got the last word out. The hand holding mine went slack and dropped into the mud.

I sat back on my heels in the rain, holding him as his body went cold.

I had no idea how much time had passed before I finally let go.

As I walked out of the pens, I heard the doctors behind me talking under their breath.

"Why did the Don suddenly order Marco poisoned? The way the Donna was crying just now, I almost went in to help."

The other doctor lowered his voice quickly. "Are you crazy?! The wedding's almost here, and the Moretti family is about to have a new Donna. You still can't see which side to be on?"

I don't remember how I got out of there.

All I know is I was walking down the street alone, my gown soaked with mud and blood.

The rain kept running into my eyes, and I was too tired to even wipe it away.

I kept walking until a black sedan slowed and stopped beside me.

A man got out, opened a black umbrella, and walked up to me.

I slowly looked up at him, dazed. He tilted the umbrella over me entirely and let the rain soak his own shoulder.

"My dear partner, how did you end up like this?"

I didn't answer. I just let him help me into the car.

The door shut, and the storm and the noise were gone.

The man handed me a clean handkerchief.

Instead, I grabbed his hand and held on.

"I'm changing the plan."

"I want Lucas to lose everything. His territory, his seat, the Moretti family he's so proud of..."

By the end, I was speaking through gritted teeth. The man stared at me for a moment, then laughed under his breath. "Then you'll have to put more on the table."

I raised my bloodshot eyes to his and spoke one word at a time. "If it makes them pay in blood, you can have my life!"