But outside the woodshed the noise never stopped, the household servants' deliberate exclamations carrying right to my ears.

Lorenzo had taken Gianna out to buy the things for their joining.

Every single item was finer, more lavish than what he had once bought for me.

And not just that. He had gone to the Matriarch and petitioned for a true wife's ring, the seal of a real Family bride.

The one he had given me back then was nothing more than a band he'd had some jeweler cut on order.

At the time, I had thought it was because my standing was low, because I was not the woman Lorenzo loved.

That was why I hadn't deserved a ring blessed by Donna Abate's own hand.

But it turned out that wasn't the reason at all.

When I thought back on it, I had been so laughable.

I had taken Lorenzo's courtesy for a genuine heart.

And I had blamed everything that came after on Isabella's meddling.

In the end, it had all been my own foolish delusion.

When Lorenzo returned, perhaps in better spirits, he had me moved into the side chamber off the main house.

He even tossed me a roll of bills and told me to buy whatever needed buying.

The fever had me dazed and muddled, but then Donna Abate sent a man summoning me to the estate.

Only then did I remember that today was the rite for the child.

I forced myself to stand through the long hours of it, and once I left the estate, I remembered again the money tucked against me.

I remembered Lorenzo's order, that I see to the arrangements with my own hands.

Gritting my teeth, I went into the city and bought jewelry and fine cloth, and only then returned to the compound.

Only to find Lorenzo keeping Gianna company while she helped a bitch whelp a litter in the courtyard.

Gianna said, her voice heavy with meaning, "I wonder who's coming back into the world today."

"What a blessing, to be reborn as my dog."

The flames of fury caught all at once and lit me up.

Roaring, I lunged at her and slapped Gianna across the face.

Lorenzo drove his foot into me and sent me flying into the chests behind me.

The silks and satins spilled out, the stark red of them spread garishly across the floor. For a moment no servant moved. Even the dog had gone quiet.

His face was thunderous. "What are you throwing a fit about now?"

"And what's all this? What's the meaning of it?"

"I told you to buy things the child would need, for when we bring him back from the estate, and you go and spend it on clothes and jewelry for yourself?"

"Carmela Greco, you are so shallow and vain it's sickening."

"Someone like you, how could you possibly be fit to raise a child? I'm warning you. If you don't rein yourself in, when the child comes back, don't even dream of raising him."

The child, the child...

My child was already gone.

A wretched laugh broke out of me. I snatched up the gold pin beside me and drove it toward my heart.

When I woke again, I was lying in bed.

Rosa, my own servant, had cried her eyes red and swollen, the hem of her apron twisted to ruin between her fingers. "My lady, you're finally awake."

"Thank God the Don reacted in time, or that pin would have taken your life."

The smell of medicine hung thick in the room. Dazed, I stared at my bandaged chest.

Even my leg had been freshly dressed.

In a haze, I saw Lorenzo walk in. The room seemed to still around him the way a club does when the boss crosses the floor.

"How could you fly off the handle like that? Would it have killed you to explain one more word?"

"If the delivery man hadn't chased me down with the goods, I wouldn't even have known those were what you'd bought for Gianna."

"Burning with fever and still forcing yourself out the door. You could have just sent word. A day or two wouldn't have made any difference."

Faced with this rare yielding from Lorenzo, I said nothing. My thumb found the old scar on my leg and pressed there, quiet.

A faint guilt rose in his eyes. "There's a Family sit-down tomorrow. Come with me."

My voice came out hoarse. "There's no need."

"Don't worry. I'll have the dress altered. No one will be able to tell you're hurt."

Lorenzo laid out his arrangements one by one, each word measured, leaving no room.

"When the child leaves the estate, it's better if we go to bring him back together."

I was too tired, too weary to bother explaining, so I softly answered yes.

By tomorrow, Donna Abate would tell him the child was gone after all.

What I never expected was that the next day, Gianna would be there at his side too.

Lorenzo Falcone looked faintly sheepish. "You needn't worry. Gianna only came to the estate today to see an old acquaintance."

I didn't press the matter. Halfway through the sit-down, weary of the endless toasts and the low murmur of made men trading favors over wine, I had Rosa help me out to the garden behind the compound.

Past the still water of the fountain, I saw Gianna kneeling deferentially before Isabella.

So she was one of Isabella's people too.

When she saw me coming, Isabella neither flinched nor turned away, only watched me with open amusement.

"Well? Losing a child doesn't sit easy, does it?"

"Carmela Greco, all these years I went to such lengths to make my dear cousin Lorenzo despise you. And still you clung on, refused to leave. Truly shameless."

"Did you think a child would carry you straight to the top? Let me tell you, you can forget it."

"Even if I don't want my cousin Lorenzo, there will only ever be one woman in his heart. Me."

I had no patience for any of it. "Whatever makes you happy."

The retort caught Isabella off guard. She laughed, a half-beat too quickly, her chin lifting as the color rose hot in her face.

"You really are a shameless mongrel!"

"Let me tell you something. Your child could have lived."

"But I was afraid you still hadn't given up. So the servant I planted in the house smothered your child to death."

I stared at Isabella, unable to believe it. "You, you..."

Isabella stepped closer over the manicured stone, gloating as she spoke. The garden had gone very quiet, the kind of quiet the Family keeps over its worst work.

"Oh, and one more thing. The moment your child was being smothered, Lorenzo was right next door, tangled up with Gianna."

"Though the name on his lips that night was mine."

"Stop it!" I lost all control and seized Isabella by the throat.

A great force flung me into the fountain.

Lorenzo had his arm around Isabella, his gaze frigid as he looked at me. The signet ring on his right hand caught the light, unmoving. "You really never learn."

I clawed desperately at the wet stone along the edge and screamed up at him.

"The child, it was the child..."

Before I could finish, Lorenzo kicked me back down again.

"Still trying to milk pity out of that child!"

"Carmela Greco, you stay in that water and reflect on yourself. The moment you admit your fault is the moment I let you out."

With that he swept off, shielding Isabella as he went, and the soldiers near the doors lowered their eyes and let him pass.

It wasn't until deep in the night that Donna Abate had me fished out, my whole body bruised blue with cold.

The Family's doctor said the chill had sunk into my bones; my leg would leave me crippled for life.

Donna Abate sighed and pressed a thick fold of cash into my hand besides.

When I was carried into the car and saw my mother, parted from me for ten long years.

I could no longer hold back the tears, and I threw myself into her arms and wept.

...

After three days and three nights of revelry with Isabella across the City, Lorenzo finally remembered me.

He made up some excuse to return to the estate, only to be told that I had never come back.

His mind heavy with unease, Lorenzo went to the compound and crossed the courtyard to the doors of Donna Abate's wing.

He was about to have one of the men announce him when Isabella's familiar voice drifted out from within.

"Auntie, just let me come back to the City. That business of running off with a man and abandoning my cousin Lorenzo was ten years ago. No one will ever know now."

"As for Carmela Greco, the child she doted on so carefully is dead. She's certainly never coming back."