Bride of the Syndicate:When Love Died and I Left Him Forever

I was a girl from the undertaker's district, hauling the unclaimed dead for coin, and for pulling the Don of the Falcone Family out of an ambush that should have killed him, he made me his bound wife in a procession of black cars that ran a mile down the avenue.

But in ten years under that blood pact, Lorenzo Falcone filled his estate with mistresses past counting.

This month he meant to install another: the most sought-after hostess of the Family's high-end club.

Heavy with child, I saw to every arrangement all the same, calm as ever.

Yet when I went out to the markets in the district, that hostess came tearing through the crowded street and ran me down in her car.

My leg bone shattered, and the blood began to pour from between my thighs and would not stop.

Lorenzo didn't spare me so much as a glance.

"Who told you to go wandering out into the street? You just wanted to flaunt it, didn't you, that you were pregnant, that you'd finally locked down your place as the Don's wife?"

"Let me make this plain. From the day you drove Isabella Vitale out of this Family, you've been a dead woman in my eyes."

"Now that you're actually dying, all the better."

He swept the hostess into his arms and walked off laughing, and the people on that street feared the Falcone name too much to dare lift a hand.

By the time my household servant found me, I lay in a river of my own blood, and the child was already dead in my womb.

When I woke again, I had them carry me to the family estate, and I knelt prostrate before Donna Abate.

"I beg you, Donna, release me from the pact. The ten years are up. It's time for me to go."

——

The matriarch sighed. "I had thought that once you were carrying his child, Lorenzo might have a change of heart."

"I never imagined he'd hold the matter of Isabella against you so bitterly."

"Carmela Greco, do you resent me? It was Isabella who gave her heart to another man and ran off with him, and yet you were the one made to carry the blame for it."

Numbly, I bowed my head to the floor again. "I ask only that you show mercy and let me go."

As I moved, fresh streams of warmth surged out from between my legs, soaking red the litter they'd carried me in on.

The Donna started in alarm and sent for the Family's doctor.

Seeing the wretched state of me, she sent a man to summon Lorenzo as well.

The man returned quickly. "Donna, the Don is at the club's private garden, amusing himself with Gianna."

"He also bid me bring this to his wife."

I raised my eyes to look. It was a length of crimson silk, a woman's slip, embroidered with a pair of mandarin ducks.

By then the doctor had finished his examination.

"Donna, the signora is gravely injured. I fear she will never be able to conceive again in this life."

"Had she been seen to in time that day, it would never have come to this, and the child might even have..."

I pressed a hand to my hollow, emptied belly and turned to the Donna with a bitter smile.

"I beg you, grant my wish."

Perhaps the sight of me was too pitiful, for even the Donna, who never let her judgments waver, let a flicker of pity cross her face.

"Your injuries are too severe. Stay at the estate seven days to recover before we speak of this again."

"I thank you for your kindness, Donna, but I still have the Don's wedding to oversee. I won't burden the household by staying."

Lorenzo's consigliere walked in, not a trace of deference about him.

He gave the Donna only the barest nod before going on:

"The Don says Gianna is the woman he holds dear, and there must be no slight to her in the smallest thing."

"His wife's health can be tended to later. It must not delay the rites between Gianna and the Don."

The Donna was aghast. "Has he lost his mind? Full rites, the seal of a true Family wife, for a mistress?"

The consigliere nodded without hesitation.

"Naturally. I'd ask the signora to return to the estate soon and make it ready. Seven days from now is the chosen hour."

With that, he turned and left.

Just like his master, he didn't give me a single glance.

The Donna was so furious she swept a set of vases to the floor, and it was a long while before she calmed enough to look at me.

"I had thought Lorenzo would let go of Isabella sooner or later. I never dreamed it would only mean ten years of ruin for you. It's time you were free."

"Seven days from now, the release from the pact will be sent to the estate. You need only leave with an easy heart."

"Only... after all you've done, after going this far, the matter of Isabella..."