Vivian took a drag from her cigarette. “I heard that to show his love for his wife, the Don had her initial tattooed over his heart. Right next to the family crest. A big ‘E’.”
“Every woman in New York would kill to be that ‘E’.” She gestured over her own heart as she spoke. “That’s real love. Something a cast-off like you wouldn’t understand.”
She leaned in closer, her voice dripping with envy. “And I heard she gave him the most brilliant son, a boy destined to be a formidable Don himself.”
Angelo, ever the center of his own universe, puffed out his chest. “Better than me? Daddy, am I going to be a Don and inherit the empire?”
Joey’s face clouded over for a second before he forced a laugh. “That’s enough, son. Grown-ups are talking.”
But I knew the truth. Dante’s three-year-old son was indeed a genius, one I had personally raised and educated.
Countless mafia wives had begged me to share my methods, desperate to know how I had raised such a loving and exceptional child.
A cold smile touched my lips.
I wondered what their faces would look like when they found out the “revered Donna” they were gossiping about was the same woman they were trying to humiliate.
Just then, my phone screen lit up.
Vivian suddenly shrieked, pointing at my lock screen. “Wait… that photo…” She paused, her voice laced with disbelief. “Isn’t that the Don’s private estate?”
She snatched the phone from my hand, her eyes glued to the screen.
In the photo, Dante had his arm around me as we stood before the rose bushes in his garden.
His shirt was slightly unbuttoned, revealing the family crest on his chest, a black eagle, and right next to it, an ornate ‘E’.
He had it tattooed there, just for me.
The air froze for a few seconds. The color drained from Vivian’s face.
Joey ripped the phone from her grasp. His eyes narrowed at the screen before he let out a harsh, sudden laugh.
“Nice Photoshop job. Which two-bit grifter taught you that trick? You have the nerve to use the Don’s private estate as a background?”
He leaned in close, his voice a low hiss in my ear. “Are you trying to get us all killed?”
With a snarl, he slammed my phone onto the pavement.
The screen shattered with a sickening crunch.
I dropped to my knees, scrambling to salvage the pieces, a surge of panic rising in me. “Dante had that done for me…”
The phone not only contained the files for all the businesses I was here to inspect, but also every precious memory Dante and I had made together.
Before I could finish, Joey’s hand whipped across my face.
CRACK!
Blood trickled from the corner of my mouth.
“Shut your mouth, you psycho bitch!”
Joey’s eyes were wild, a frantic mix of fury and raw fear. “Adriana! You dare say the Don’s name? And you have the gall to invent a relationship with him? Are you trying to get our whole family thrown into the Hudson River?”
Several of his men immediately closed in, their hands on their pieces.
The scar-faced soldato’s voice trembled. “Adriana, do you have any fucking idea what Joey had to do to get us on this detail tonight?”
“Joey answers to the Don now! We’re only alive on this block because we’re under the Moretti family’s protection!”
“If you’re here impersonating the Donna and word gets back to the Don, he’ll have us all skinned alive!”
Another man pulled a gun, the black muzzle pressing against my temple. “Maybe I should just put a bullet in your head right now. End this before you get us all clipped.”
Angelo was jumping up and down with excitement. “Good one! Hit her again! Mama Vivian, look how pathetic she is!”
I slowly wiped the blood from my lip and lifted my head, sweeping my coldest glare over every single person there.
In that instant, all of them, including Joey, took an involuntary step back.
Seeing the color drain from Joey’s face, Vivian pointed a vicious finger at me. “Adriana, Joey was merciful enough to offer you a place, and this is how you repay him, with these insane lies!”
“I think you’ve really lost your mind. Trying to latch onto the Don? Looking like that?”
“Even if you hate Joey, you can’t try to ruin him like this! Do you want him to die?”
Her words felt like a scene from that nightmare three years ago.
No matter what I did, Vivian could always twist the truth, always convince Joey that I was the villain.
In the beginning, Joey would defend me. Later, he started taking her side.
Just like now. Joey gave me a long, hard look and uttered two words: “Crazy bitch.”
But this time, he didn’t continue to humiliate me. After a moment of silence, he pulled a thick wad of hundred-dollar bills from his suit pocket.
He threw the cash in my face, the green bills fluttering to the ground around me. “Take the money. Buy yourself some decent clothes. And if you don’t want to look after Angelo, I can set you up in the club. Turning tricks.”
The condescending charity in his gesture made me sick.
This pathetic excuse for a man… no wonder he was still a bottom-rung gangster.
I got to my feet, kicking the scattered bills aside. Then, I bent down and picked up the shattered remains of my phone. I met his gaze, my voice dropping to a low, cold whisper.
“I don’t want your money. It’s tainted.”
