I'd been in an unsanctioned affair with my brother's blood-sworn ally for eight years.

Every time I brought up being acknowledged before the Family, he'd coax me out of it: "Just a little longer. If your brother finds out, he'll kill me."

So I listened. Every time we were around other people, I kept my distance like a good girl.

Until a round of public dares at a Family banquet landed on Luca Russo.

The crowd egged him on, daring him to kiss one of the women in the room.

His gaze drifted toward me, soft and warm. My pulse spiked. I felt my cheeks flush as I braced myself.

But that gaze swept right past me.

And settled on his old flame from the Bellini family.

"I pick Adriana."

While I sat frozen in disbelief, Luca didn't spare me so much as a glance. He walked straight to Adriana Bellini and slid his arm around her waist.

She tipped up on her toes, shy and smiling. He leaned down, and his lips met hers in a kiss so tender, so lingering, that neither of them seemed to remember anyone else was in the room.

The crowd roared. She buried her face against his chest, all coy sweetness.

He didn't pull away. He just laughed softly and steadied her by the waist.

In that moment, I finally saw the truth for what it was.

The secret I'd waited eight years for was over.

——

The cheering around me only got louder.

"Oh, we are EATING tonight! Luca and Adriana making out right in front of us? Get a room!"

Everyone was teasing them about their history.

"It's been eight years and you're both still unattached. If that doesn't prove you two are endgame, I don't know what does."

More voices piled on.

"Get together! Get together!"

"Kiss her again!"

It was June, but my hands and feet had gone ice-cold, as though I'd been plunged into the dead of winter.

Two hours ago, everything had still been fine.

When Luca drove me to the banquet, he'd unbuckled my seatbelt for me, then pressed a kiss to my forehead.

"Don't drink too much tonight," he'd said. "If your brother and the crew get me wasted, I'll need my girl to drive me home."

Eight years, and he'd never once told anyone we were together. Not a captain, not a soldier, not a single soul who mattered.

But hearing words like that, I still felt something warm bloom in my chest.

Until—

Ten minutes after the banquet started.

The door to the private room swung open, and every conversation died for a beat. The kind of silence that only came when someone with blood worth mentioning walked in.

It was Adriana Bellini. Luca's old public flame. A Bellini mob princess who'd spent the last few years abroad and whose name still carried weight at every table in the syndicate.

She stood in the doorway in a black dress that hugged every curve, wearing a polished smile.

"Heard you were all getting together. Hope you don't mind me crashing."

"Not at all!"

The crew kicked into gear immediately. "Adriana, sit next to Luca!"

But the person sitting next to Luca was me.

Before I could even process it, his associates were already jumping in. "Bianca, what are you doing hanging around here anyway? Go sit by your brother."

I looked at Luca instinctively.

Hoping he'd say something. Just one word in my defense.

When I'd agreed to come tonight, the only thing I'd asked for was the seat beside him. He'd ruffled my hair, all indulgent affection. "The spot next to me is always yours."

But now.

Luca wasn't even looking at me.

From the second Adriana walked through that door, his eyes had been locked on her and hadn't moved. The silver lighter he always carried sat still in his hand, forgotten.

"Bianca, hello? You just gonna sit there like a deer in headlights?"

"This is Family business talk, kid. Stay out of it!"

The voices urging me to move grew louder.

They all assumed I was just tagging along with my brother. The Don's quiet daughter, seated where she didn't belong.

My fingers went to the hollow at my throat, pressing once against the skin there. Then my hand dropped away.

I lowered my head and moved to the seat next to my brother.

"Thanks so much, Bianca."

Adriana settled into the spot beside Luca with an easy smile, set her clutch down on the white tablecloth, and tilted her head to greet him.

"Luca, it's been a while."

Luca gave a slight nod, then turned his face away.

But I knew him too well. On the surface he looked unbothered, but every muscle in his body was taut.

He was nervous. He cared.

A few rounds of drinks in, someone started stirring things up.

"Luca, Adriana, you two were the golden couple back in the day. How'd you ever split?"

"Seriously, it's been eight years and you're both still single. If that's not fate, what is?"

"You've come full circle. Just make it official again!"

Adriana smiled but said nothing, turning to look at Luca.

Luca picked up his glass and took a sip. The silver lighter turned once between his fingers beneath the table, a motion so practiced it was nearly silent. He didn't look at Adriana. He didn't look at anyone.

His gaze drifted, just barely, toward the far end of the room.

Where I sat, in the corner. Away from the main table, away from the light, the way I had always been kept.

Then someone suggested a round of Truth or Dare.

After a few rounds, the bottle landed on Adriana.

"Adriana, truth or dare?"

"Truth."

Her eyes locked on Luca as she answered without a shred of hesitation. Her tongue pressed once against the inside of her cheek before the smile arrived, perfectly placed.

"Ohhh," the crowd drawled, all loaded implication, and the question came fast on its heels.

"Do you still have feelings for Luca?"

The room went silent. Not the polite kind. The kind that falls over a table when someone asks a question that could rearrange alliances.

Adriana paused for two seconds, then smiled, resting her chin on her hand, holding Luca's gaze.

"Of course I do. I always have."

The room erupted.

"Get together! Get together!"

"Kiss! Kiss!"

Luca just sat with his head bowed, no reaction at all. The lighter had gone still in his hand.

Then it was his turn.

"Luca, truth or dare?"

He set his glass down. "Dare."

"Kiss one of the girls here!"

His eyes found mine, soft and warm.

I straightened in my seat, certain this was the moment he'd finally come clean, that he'd at least give some kind of sign. Something the room could see. Something that named me, even halfway.

Even if it was just enough to stop me from reading into things the wrong way.

But the next second, his gaze slid past me and landed on Adriana.

"I pick Adriana."

I froze. Every part of me locked in place as I watched Luca walk over to her, lean down, and press his mouth to hers.

It wasn't a peck.

It was deep, rough, consuming.

More like a kiss laced with spite than anything resembling tenderness.

The whole room screamed. Soldiers pounded the table. Someone whistled through their teeth. The noise filled the private room of the social club like a verdict being handed down, and I sat inside it, invisible.

When it was over, Adriana's eyes were rimmed with red. She threw herself into his arms.

"I knew it. I knew you hadn't forgotten me. You still have feelings for me."

I stayed hidden in the crowd, swallowing down the bitterness clawing its way up my throat, and watched her.

Luca didn't push her away.

His hand went to her waist, steadying her, as if the only thing on his mind was making sure her trembling legs didn't give out. A Bellini princess, held upright by a Moretti capo in front of every name that mattered. And I was no one in that room.

Beside them, my brother Matteo slammed the table, grinning ear to ear.

"No way! You two are serious?"

"Luca, you sly dog. Eight years of staying single and it was all for Adriana. Living like a monk!"

I looked at my brother, brows pinched together. My fingers went to the hollow at my throat and pressed there, hard.

The bitterness in my chest sank deeper.

Once Adriana was steady on her feet, Luca let go of her, casual as anything, like nothing had happened.

"It's just a game."

Adriana tilted her face up to his. "But I meant every second of it."

The room went quiet for a beat. The kind of quiet where everyone is deciding what they just witnessed and how much of it was real.

That was when I stood up.

Every pair of eyes swung toward me.

"Bianca, what's up? You wanna say something?"

Luca slowly lifted his gaze to mine.

Something flickered across his face. He looked down, grabbed his phone, and typed a message to me, fast.

Bee, about what just happened. Don't be mad.

No one kisses the woman they actually love in front of a crowd like that.

I don't love Adriana. That kiss was just to get back at her…

Don't say anything you shouldn't.

I almost laughed. A bitter, hollow sound caught in my throat. After everything, the only thing he was afraid of was that I'd lose my temper and blow the secret wide open. Eight years of omertà between us, and the only vow he'd ever kept was the one that kept me silent.

Seeing me standing there picking up my coat, my brother turned to look at me.

"Bianca, where are you going?"

"Just the restroom."

Luca visibly relaxed.

My brother didn't notice a thing. He just waved me off.

"Always stalling at the worst time. Hurry back, we're cutting the cake soon."

The room's attention had already drifted back to Luca and Adriana, the golden couple. I smiled and slipped out the door.

The moment I locked myself inside the restroom, I couldn't hold it in anymore. Tears spilled down my face.

By the time I'd pulled myself together and made it back to the private room:

"Bianca, how does it take you that long in the bathroom?"

"We were starting to think you fell in."

Matteo teased me with a grin and pushed a plate toward me.

"Eat up. Strawberry cake, your favorite. I saved you a piece."

I looked at the slice of cake, and my eyes stung all over again.

Strawberries and cream, arranged in a delicate little pattern.

Every year on my birthday, Luca would order strawberry cake from the same pasticceria on Mulberry Street and deliver it himself to the gate of the compound.

Then, when my brother wasn't around, he'd steal a kiss on my forehead.

He used to say, "Once I name you at the table, I'm ordering you the biggest strawberry cake in the whole city."

But today wasn't my birthday.

It was Luca's.

This cake had been ordered for him.

"Thanks, Matteo." I took the plate and settled back into my corner seat.

The girl next to me leaned over, buzzing with gossip.

"Bianca, you missed it. After you left, Luca and Adriana drank like three more toasts together, arms linked and everything. The way they were looking at each other? Gave me actual chills."

"You think they're really getting back together?"

I bit into the cake. The strawberry was sour.

"Maybe."

"Weren't you always saying you had a crush on Luca? How are you not jealous right now?"

I froze for a second, unsure how to answer that.

Eight years ago.

Everyone thought I was just a puppy trailing after Luca wherever he went.

Even though he'd agreed to be with me only two months into my pursuit.

But the affair had stayed hidden from the very start. No one in either Family ever knew.

That one comment steered the whole conversation toward me.

Someone spoke up. "Bianca, you're twenty-seven this year, right? That's not exactly young. How come you still don't have anyone?"

"I mean, your brother's the Moretti heir. You've got the same blood. There's no way you're short on men lining up."

"Just don't end up like Luca over here, perfectly good capo and still supposedly unattached, haha..."

Every pair of eyes in the room landed on me.

Including Adriana's. She pressed her tongue once against the inside of her cheek, watching me with a look that was just a little too thoughtful.

My fingers drifted to the hollow at my throat. I held them there for a breath, then let my hand drop.

I shook my head with a smile. "I'm not single."

Luca's head snapped up. His brow furrowed, and he shot me a look.

A warning.

Telling me not to say anything stupid.

On my way to the restroom earlier, I had already called my Hart's personal line and told him yes. I'd agreed to the alliance marriage.

He and the Valente patriarch had been arranging introductions for weeks now.

That was why I'd been pressing Luca so hard lately.

I'd wanted him to acknowledge me before the Family, but every answer I got was impatient.

"Just wait a little longer. The timing isn't right."

But I didn't want to wait anymore.

If waiting to the very end still wouldn't give me what I wanted, then it didn't matter who I married.

"Oh? You're not single?"

Someone glanced curiously at my brother, then back at me.

"Little Bianca, you're the youngest one here. Don't go pulling our legs now."

"I bet she's bluffing. If she really had someone, why not bring him along so we can check him out?"