The Don's Melted Snow

nd, a ruthless Mafia Don, helping him

is armored car. That was when I discovered he was having an affa

lied to my face and abandoned

le fortress, and her as someo

t the mistress the flawless blood diamond he once promised me when we were starving i

nter cold to deliver his bribes. I gave him my youth and my absolute loy

and I didn't b

drafted a severance demand to take half of his laundered

going to see th

pte

na

his thirtieth birthday-my husband-I retrieve a tube o

without a moment's hesitation, I know t

he vehicle lock with

hicle thins, as if his presence has displaced a third of it. He is a man who carries the sc

ink plastic cylinde

Syndicate would

my voice pitched with

cond, the lethal composure that defines him falters. A muscle jumps in his jaw. His

. It mus

. His sworn brother. A man

ly, simply w

w. We can't have my wife getting the wrong idea over a piece of rubbish." He connects th

ped. "Stop leaving your things in my c

a clear, unforced laugh

renzo lies smoothly. "A gift for my new gi

ends th

hand closes over mine, plucking the lip balm from my

ched up in unlit basements when we had nothing b

d be handled with care,"

used to like that flavor," he says, his thumb br

d calmly. "The

weight forms

ver purchase a cheap brand from a corner drugstore. The fact settles deep in my

city lights, my mind a quiet ledger, calculating every detail. I wonder who she is. I wonder how long my husband has b

warm hand over my knee. "We'll make Lorenzo buy us dinner fo

ying noth

eadboard. When the rhythm of Cassio's breathing finally deepens into sleep, I slip out from under the silk sheets. I do not hes

g to find