White Reverence
Louis, the Cascino family's Don, canceled the wedding celebration he had promised me for the twelfth time so he could look after his adoptive father's daughter, Jenny.
As the family's Donna, I was left to clean up the mess from yet another canceled wedding.
When I returned to the estate, I found Jenny lying weakly in Louis's arms.
I asked, "Louis, did you cancel our wedding just to stay with her?"
Louis cut me off immediately. "Shirley, can't you be a little more understanding? Jenny's father adopted me when I was young. Now that he has passed away, I can't abandon her when she has come to me for help."
Jenny started coughing again. Louis immediately lowered his head to comfort her, treating me like I wasn't even there.
Just one month earlier, I had taken a bullet for Louis during an ambush and had been badly wounded. And yet, he had barely glanced at me.
"Jenny gets scared easily. I need to spend more time with her. A wound like that is nothing to you."
With that, he turned and headed for the VIP hospital room next door, reserved for the still shaken Jenny.
Even now, Louis was still whispering reassurances to the woman in his arms.
"Don't be scared. I'll always take care of you. I won't let anyone push you around."
Watching all of this, I turned and walked out of the room.
I no longer wanted to give everything to someone who treated me like I didn't exist.
This time, I chose to leave.