Weeping For The Bride He Left Behind

DEAD WHEN TH

had always loved

mbered my birthday-and kept the gag going until

had Dad drive off and secret

y, she said I just

a Queen of the Skies" photoshoot-and I was hoisted on a r

, begging my fiancé-the mafia G

turned his back withou

f work into planning this 'Mafia Queen of th

al, leaving me hanging alone beneath a rope about to snap, wi

neered, with no idea that at that very moment I lay sprawled on the g

y did the cold Godfather who had once sworn a blood oath to protec

y shattered, blood-soaked corpse did their loft

all of them, sobbing and pleading

ld never

pte

o let me down. But Lorenzo Falcone-the most feared mafia Godfather in the entire Syndicate-only turned a

s to watch, with my own eyes,

ess Bianca had forced me into. Below, the abandoned estate was overrun with

Walls and rubble tumbled down the steep slope behind the estate all the way to the bottom; beyond the slab's e

and I hung directly above the steepest part of the drop. I grippe

rigid; I couldn't move. And every member of my family knew it perfect

e man who was about to become my husband. "I ca

clearing. In the entire underworld,

ilies, cementing his rule as the supreme Godfather of our mafia. Merely by standing there,

here was nothing in his eyes but a flicker

it carried not a trace of urgency. "Bianca put a lot of work into plann

smile playing on her lips. In her hands she clutched a huge bundle of helium balloons, pre

across the empty estate. "You always have to make everything about you. The Godfather was ki

de and folded her arms, her fac

e the eldest daughter of a crime boss. Put away th

ooked at me. He was staring down at the luxury watch on his wrist,

l on video?" Bianca aske

ally inducted core member of the Syndicate, he was a killer who never blinked-but h

his breath. "The boys back at the

into me, the chair lurched, and the sickening swing over the dr

y filed into the convoy behind him. They planned to be gone from the estate for fifteen minut

state's steward at the crane console: "Let her down in ten minutes. Take her behind the flower ar

now! Go switch on the power for the big screen in the front courtyard and hang the fairy lights-the Godfather's gran

es watching over me on that estate had just bee

way into the distance. The deafening mechanical roar, mixed wi

s utterly alo

at the iron chair again. And directly above my head, a sound cut t

n

g the chair was fraying apart at a heart-stopping spe

scream, but nothing c

hread of f

napped cable whipped back with brutal force, hurling the iron chair toward the out

edge, bounced half a foot into the air, then tumbled over the rim, chair a

ar. Only an endless, boundle

low; the brush had been smashed open into a jagged gash. I followed that gash with my eyes-and saw my own body, twisted into a horrible, unnatural posture, wedged in the waist-high thorns at th

earing, the bottom of t

as

bloody scene. The world blurred and twisted-and in the next instant I was

nd Lorenzo were gathered around the open trunk of a pure-black SU

axed and at ease. He slipped a hand into the inner pocket of his tailor

had stared at for a long time in a catalog three months ago.

h that brilliant stone. But my fingers passed straight through

slucent skin. A bitter, bottomless despai

mily's little crybaby," my mother said with a laug

ver happen to that girl," my father chimed in, g

and cast his phone screen onto the large

ed out, "come look at the s

y face white as paper, my eyes bulging with sheer terror, te

d and leaned against her best friend Clara-also a

ianca jeered. "Look at her sh

d away from the screen for half a second. "Leav

cut in with a careless wave of her han

iffened and died. In the video, my chest heaved violently, my eyes bri

He strode toward the flower shop door

renzo said, his low voice threaded wit

forward and gr

him away from the door. "You'll ruin the big dramatic entrance

murmured, his gaze drifting ba

ning the flames. "You know how A

here for a long moment. The one chance to save my life

end, he

ly and stepped back into the roo

picked the photo for the estate's big screen! The one

frozen frame after another onto the big screen

f: me, reaching desperately toward the camera, my face contorted with

my despairing face, and for once h

e that hideous crying face

corner of his mouth lifting into a tender, devoted smil