Too Late For Regret: The Mafia Princess

ther, the ruthless Don of New York

incess; he brought me back to be a lowly maid

' death, I only wanted to place a

diers to barricade the mausoleum, lo

ina for permission, I will permanently erase yo

in a windowless basement, banned me from family banqu

me out of his armored SUV onto the highway, and decreed that no one

xtract me from my civilian life just to le

t completely dead, and any remaini

ecklace he gave me and threw it on

e and texted my other brother, Leo, the

t. "I am abandoning this

pte

a

e crossed their assault rifles, forming an impenetr

logical brother, the most ruthl

rring to his adopted sister, "if you wa

t now," he threatened, his voice a lethal whisper, "I wi

was the secure signal I had established with the deadliest rising boss in the underworld. I didn't need to look at the screen to know what the code mea

ding as a gust of wind, smelling of damp earth and dista

fell over me, a

e boroughs. His suits of dark English wool were tailored to conceal the cold geometry of the weapons he carried, and his mere presence was an atmospheric pres

. He did it all because Serafina-the adopted girl with no claim to our linea

ical parents' deaths. I only wanted to

on my cheek, a distillation of pure frustration an

sigh, but the impatient exhalation of a man whose prize stallion refuses a jump. He regarde

speech was a carefully constructed insult. "She might grant

ear on my cheek grew cold, and with that small shift

rother, Leo, who took that money and disappeared not into shadows, but into the labyrinth of rusty fire escapes and win

. I took a deliberate step back from the armed guards, my movements measured and silent. I under

, and his large, calloused hand descended upon the crow

mble as his fingers tangled in my hair.

I will go inside and negotiate with Serafina on your be

ntered the grand marble mausoleum. He le

nother, a flicker of a smile playing

ate Don," one of them muttered, the

ought for me, now scuffed with the dust of this place. Bringing me back to the Syn

Serafina's voice, high and arr

uted at

ed near the graves?" she demanded, her v

ssolved into a grim certainty: all the Family's protection was hoarded by the one who slept on 800-thread-count Egyptian cotton, the girl for whom

s car," Cassio's deep voice promised, a de

bribe did Serafina loudly decree, "Fi

acid, self-satisfied expression, wholly unaware of the

lna of my wrist, the force great enough to cut off the return of blood

usly granted you acc

from his hold. The sudden movement made the guar

ood I did not know I poss

side the perimet

vein on the side of his neck to pulse erratically; the f

surgically removed, leaving beh

he accused, his voice losing its resonance, becoming fl

nt. My eyes were clear and empty as I met th

s steady and cool as the marble of the to

line crack in the granite facade of the Don. It vanished as quickly a