Proposal of Blood and Betrayal
After my parents were killed in a territory war, I was taken in by Don Moretti, head of New York's most powerful crime family. I was the only civilian in a world of made men.
For twenty years, I was raised alongside his twin heirs, Marco and Santino. Their protection and favor made me the envy of every aspiring mob wife in the city.
But when I was finally ready to become a real part of the family, they both turned me down.
Marco said, "I need to focus on expanding our territory first. I'm not ready for this kind of commitment."
Santino said, "An outsider can't be trusted with family secrets."
The next night, at my birthday celebration, they both proposed to the daughter of a low-level enforcer.
To prove their loyalty to her, they let her force me to drink "The Don's Fire"—a 150-proof grappa laced with ghost peppers that would hospitalize anyone who wasn't raised on it since childhood.
Broken in body and spirit, I made a call from my hospital bed.
"I accept the proposal from the Luciano Syndicate."