ough the bedroom, and Dante let his head turn with the blow and

back," I

back what I bel

was not a

ple said about us. Do not pretend he was incap

is name. But the same hands had lifted me onto his shoulders when I was small, taught me to read, bought me my first piano, and promised that no one would ever hurt me while he lived. Then one rainy

lying,

son to lie abo

reatened your empire. If you convince me my father killed

his face. "Is that what y

i's wife. I had memorised the names of his associates, learned which subjects to avoid at dinner, and smiled through gatherings where strangers s

e. "Wanting something to be

g a mafia king does not mak

me an expert in what pe

without taking his eyes off me. "What?" A pause. "When?" His f

happ

u need to w

urally. My life is made entirely o

for a few minutes. Do not open thi

ife, not you

istinction doe

ame. I hated the question already forming in my m

clock somewhere down the hall. When he finally looked back, his face wa

not what

answer I can g

eeling like the most foolish woman alive. I had fallen in love wi

red on the second ring, and the sound of his v

tried to

he spoke again his voice had

re in th

me. Do not

r was involved in the

far too long. "Your husband will say

Did you meet Dante's fa

different kind of quiet, heavier an

t an answe

ve to

lways been protective, sometimes unreasonably so, bu

my father, the evidence would be somewhere in his study, and I waited until the corridor went quiet before I slipped out. The guard who had stood at my door was gone, and that should have stopped me. It didn't. The study door was u

e I grew up in. Someone had been watching me for months. Behind them lay a copy of our marriage certificat

or somethi

e folder and then to me, and for the first time

It was a photograph of my father standing beside Dante's father, both men alive, both men smil

e