The True Mafia Princess Who Never Came Home

ut my brother, the Don, hid me in a safe house while treati

them. So I decided it w

y humiliated my impoverished past in front o

instead, he indulged her cru

ck my bags and leave, they c

nly photograph of my dead adoptiv

mocked, grinding the glass i

n brother violently twist

enseless just so the fake prince

from her tantrums, but all he did was tr

t in this family, blood

ked out the door, and boarded an off-th

and brought the whole syndicate to my farm

pte

ra

of the Romano Syndicate, a man whose tailored suit could not conceal the rigid jaw that had ordere

offered to me knowing it could be used to s

ar smoke that made the ventilation fans drone and the

ored black suit that cost more than my adoptive parents earned in a decade

ight sat

rural farming town. She wore a blood-diamond necklace that caught the dim

thday, he had

ranking Capos and Soldiers to sit at the table with us, setting a stack of heavy casino

e at the table has done it, they lose a chip. The last

was law in th

folded their hands and threw away their chips on purpose, trying to let me win. They wanted me to ask Julian to finally move

a noticed

cruel smile. She leaned forward, resting he

oken at dawn to shov

e Capos looked away, staring down at their glasses

reached out with a trembling hand and pushe

rp, grating sound that struck

secondhand clothes from

nother chi

a local butcher for scraps to

y last chi

a barren patch of velvet. I

town in a fleet of black SUVs. He was the one who had pulled me from the dirt, promised me I would never be alone

of his bourbon. His face remai

f respect. He simply watched her with a blind, indulgent favoritism that made my che

ether. She looked at Julian with wide, innocent ey

inst the crystal. "Yes," he said, his voice a deep rumble that commanded

y in their leather chairs. They muttered unde

them with a sing

tomorrow," Natalia said, pointing a red-tipped finger at Jul

my empty hands. I was

rk eyes flicked to me fo

ly. "I promised to move her out of the safe house

Her breathing hitched, and her hands began to shake. She

er emotional explosion. I saw, with brutal clarity, the calculation behind his eyes-not a brother weighing his sister's

atalia," I said quietly,

ped his hea

id, looking directly into my brother'

s cold eyes, and then the taut line of his shoulders slackened. He

to honor that promis

nced to the room, "I want to make it clear my oath was only mea

he floor. No one dare

a," Julian commanded,

close my eyes. Instead, I looked directly at N

ily that doesn't

den cabin with its creaking floorboards, the smell of fresh rain on dirt r

red. He understood what I

out a pier

p-edged pieces. She swept her arm across the table, knocking over bottles of liquor and stacks of chips i

not even

er her, shouting her name down the h

, muttering apologies as t

silence pressing in like a held breath. I thought th

door ba

eaking her cheeks. His eyes locked on mine-and there was no relief in them, no gui

low and lethal. "Sit down, Elara. Deal

ld not let me leave this room until he had