Shirley
On my tenth birthday, my parents, the Don of the Falcone family and his wife, were murdered in a targeted hit.
Because they took a sudden detour to pick up my custom birthday gift, they drove right into a rival syndicate's fatal ambush.
My brother, Vincenzo, blamed my childish demands for their deaths.
When Vincenzo took over as the new Don, his first act was to banish me to a remote convent to do hard labor.
For eight whole years, he never visited me once.
When I died on the operating table in the family hospital, he was standing guard right next door.
He was watching his adopted sister, Lucia, get a heart transplant. He had saved her from a street shootout years ago.
Just before I lost consciousness, I heard him comforting Lucia through the wall. He told her not to be afraid and promised to save her.
The last words he ever said to me were, "Are you faking a cough or fainting this time? Do not bother me unless you are actually dead!"
Twenty-four hours later, a nurse finally found my body lying in a pool of blood. No one ever came to claim me.
What my brother didn't know was that my heart would keep beating inside Lucia's chest forever.