At 2:30 in the morning, I stand up and take a deep breath. The conversation awkwardly fades out around me, but I wave my hands at everyone. “I’m just going to go take a shower,” I say, smiling around. “Ignore me – keep going –“ “No, that’s a good idea,” Daniel says, looking over at Jerome. “I’m go
He’s…he’s got such a big role to play today. If he betrays us… But no. I wipe the thought from my mind, because Jerome…Jerome loves Daniel, and he loves me. I just have to have faith. “Of course I know my role,” Donnie says, grinning and nodding. “Never been easier. 10:00, get in the car downsta
And then it’s just Daniel and me, alone. “You ready, little wife?” he murmurs, looking down at me with half a smile. “I guess so,” I say with a deep sigh. He turns towards the car but I grab his hand. “Hey, I love you, you know,” I say, pulling him back. Daniel smiles and comes close, running
Kent does precisely what he’s told over the next few hours, signing papers and obeying instructions – standing, sitting, waiting, not giving anyone an ounce of trouble and saying as little as possible. Inside, his mind churns, wanting desperately to consider every single possibility and how he’ll re
“Oh, a sip won’t hurt,” I say, raising my glass of champagne to consider it. Then I turn my eyes back to him. “Though I hope you and Daniel will drink deeply. It’s a big day.” Daniel raises his glass then, initiating a toast, and he mumbles some useless words about family, and happiness, and the f
I take a deep breath and lean back as my father gnashes his teeth, clearly still trying to figure a way out of this. “Stop wasting your energy,” I snap. “It’s done. I want you to listen to me, and do as I say, and if you do, then I will give you this.” Very carefully, I lift an even smaller vial
My father stares at me, confused, and the notary anxiously clears his throat before pulls another document out of his bag, laying it carefully before my father. “Your will, sir. Which you had me change months ago? To make…Fay Lippert, your daughter, your singular heir?” “What?” he gasps. “Th
“I had to do it, Fay,” Daniel says, looking at me evenly, his voice serious and heavy with the weight of the life he just took. “He couldn’t live – you know that. You’ve read enough Machiavelli to know that if he lived he’d have come for vengeance. He had to be destroyed -” “Daniel,” I say, tryi
My dad greets him with such genuine joy and excitement that it makes my heart swell with joy. They talk for a few minutes about Dominic’s day before dad gives him a little nudge back towards the gate where Kent and I are waiting. Dominic gives dad a kiss before running ahead again. My dad waves to
“Papa!” Dominic shouts, startling me out of my reverie as he drops my hand and darts down the road. I look up, a huge smile breaking out on my face again as I see Kent on the sidewalk just ahead. His back is to us as he speaks companionably with the butcher, a heavy bag of his purchases already hung
As I walk down the street towards the little Italian kindergarten, the whispers start around me, as they always do. I listen to all of them, a big German Shepherd padding quietly at my heels. “Is that her?” “Yes, that’s the one – I heard she was her husband’s mistress before he married her – tha
Both Kent and I laugh, but Don Bianci – across the baptismal font from us – snaps his eyes up, perhaps not liking the joke as much as we do. But I just ignore it, because dad’s right, frankly – and it’s too happy a day to care. After the final blessing everyone applauds Dominic – he likes that, bl
“Well, it didn’t seem to affect your first very badly,” Ivan says with a shrug, peering around Kent to where Daniel is laughing with an arm around Jerome’s shoulders. “So…maybe keep it up.” I smirk, squeezing Ivan’s hand once more before standing and moving to Kent’s side, tucking myself against h
“Hey, gorgeous,” Ivan says, his mouth turned up in a smirk as I cross the churchyard, beaming at him. “Look who’s talking,” I say, laughing and reaching for him when I come close enough. Ivan wraps me in a hug, dropping a kiss to my cheek as I hold Dominic a bit to the side so he doesn’t get squis
He laughs, smiling at me genuinely. “Do I make you nervous?” he asks, blunt. I laugh, unable to help it. “Has no one bothered to tell you, in all these years, that you’re a little terrifying, Don Bianci?” He grins and shakes his head at me. “Well, considering what you accomplished, young lady, I
Two months later, we’re all gathered together again. And it is only with frustration that I see Gio and Janeen standing so close together that their arms nearly brush, even though they’re still not together. I roll my eyes, dismissing the problem for a moment as I move my eyes down to Dominic and
It's an incredible night. Kent didn’t lie, not at all, about the food either. I’m shocked by the mountains of dishes that continue to follow each other, one after another, long into the night. After a few hours of it I just mournfully watch the waiters go by because I couldn’t eat another bite if I