One There were two, tall, burly men standing outside my dorm room. “Um….” I stared at them. “I’m sorry about the hot plate?” One of the men glanced down at me. He pulled out his cell phone and looked at it. “Are you Emmilia Marino?” I raised an eyebrow. “Who wants to know?” “We’re security guards for your roommate, Laura Luna. She’s one of the heirs to the Luna fortune. The college had you sign an NDA, remember?” My eyes widened. “Oh. That. I thought that was just because she was going to the same school as me. Did I do something wrong?” The man shook his head. “No. Miss Luna is going to be your roommate. You were deemed the best possible candidate based on your background check.” I raised an eyebrow. “Background check?” He nodded. “You have a perfect GPA; you would have been class speaker in high school if not for the car accident that killed your father and put you in a coma for most of t
Two Laura plopped down on my bed like she owned it. We had been at school almost two months. “You’re avoiding me,” Laura said. I was in the middle of studying. I coughed. “No, I’m not. It’s junior year. I’ve got a lot of things that I have to do. I’m sure you do too, and you told me that you switched majors.” She shook her head. “No. I know when someone is avoiding me. I get it, I’m sure I’m putting a major cramp in your style with the security guards. I also know not everybody is best friends with their roommate. But my brother’s kind of rule this campus, and it’s hard for me to make friends. So…what do you say?” I turned around from my desk and looked at her. “I swear I’m not avoiding you. I actually think you’re pretty great. As for the security guards, Giovani and Billy don’t bother me.” “They don’t?” said Laura. I nodded. “They don’t.” “So, why do you keep on ignoring me when I say we should hang
Three The nicest dress I had was a black, strappy dress. The same one that I’d worn to the welcome back party that I had gone to freshman year. The one that Cesare had noticed me in, and had so much fun tearing it off. The reason for my biggest mistake ever. I’d had to sew it back together when I got home. I had high-heeled shoes that I’d worn to my dads funeral years ago. I put on some makeup, and then grabbed my purse and cell phone. I met Laura in the living room of the apartment. She was wearing a red dress, with gold earrings, and Manolo Blahnik shoes. Her purse was a Saint Laurent, black, with a gold strap on her shoulder. Her blond hair was slightly curled and she had a red bow holding back some of her hair. She looked too pretty for words. I was aware of how simple I looked. Laura, to her credit, only smiled at me and looped her arm through mine. “Come on. Let’s go. I already told the boys. They’ve got the car ready for us.”
Four I found myself being dragged out onto the dance floor. “Cesare---I don’t think this is a good idea. I don’t really know how to do this.” Cesare flashed me a smile. “It’s okay. It’s all about following the lead. I happen to be an excellent leader.” He placed a hand on my hip, then held my other one tightly. He smelled of cologne and cigarettes which shouldn’t have attracted me but it did. “I did some research on you.” I looked up at him. “Oh? Did you find anything salacious?” “You went to Italy your freshman year,” he said, “you stayed for nine months, and you did the online program while you were there. Why were you in the Old Country?” “I have family there,” I said, “my Nonna was sick. She’d never met me before. The family wanted me to spend some time with her.” “Why haven’t you spent time with her before?” “It’s my father’s family,” I explained, “he died when in I was in high school. He wasn’t r
Five Someone was watching me. I knew it wasn’t Billy or Giovani because they were both with Laura at her art history class. I was sitting in the library when I felt the hair on the back of my neck stand up. I looked across the way, and I saw Cesare talking to the librarian. He had leaned up against her desk like owned it, said something that made her laugh, and then she pointed in my direction. Damn it. I had spent all of freshman year worrying that he would find me again. Now, I was a junior, and he would be graduating in the spring. Of course, he would find me in his last year… My eighteen-year-old self would have given anything for him to notice me. But my twenty-year-old self knew better. Cesare Luna wasn’t the kind of guy that you wanted attention from. He was the kind of guy you thought you wanted attention from and then when you got it, you regretted it immediately. Cesare strode towards me like he was the
Six Not all of the family was back in the Old Country. I had an aunt named Thalia who came to visit at least once a month. She lived in New York, with her three sons, and her husband. I hadn’t met any of them. I wasn’t exactly invited to family events. But, because the family knew my secret, my uncle liked to send people to check in on me. I was unsurprised when I got a call from my Mama on Saturday morning. “Are you working today?” she asked. I sat up in bed. “No. Why?” “Your aunt is coming. She wants to have lunch with you.” I froze. “What? Why?” “I’m not sure,” said Mama, “but dress nicely, and get here before noon.” I groaned. “Okay.” I got up and showered. As I was in the middle of getting dressed, the door to my room opened. A low whistle made me jump. I turned around and was surprised to see Cesare standing there. He smirked. “You look gorgeous. Who are you seeing?”
Seven“Emmilia!”Outside of Laura, I had one friend, Gemma Blake. She was a pretty brunette with blue eyes. She sat up front in my International Business Class, and gestured to the empty seat next to her. “Hi, Gemma!” I smiled. Gemma smiled back at me. “Did you get the e-mail?” “What e-mail?” I asked. “We’re having a guest speaker today. The professor is apparently old friends with Octavious Luna. He’s going to give a presentation on his internship program and his life in business.” The hair on the back of my neck stood up. “Octavious Luna?” Gemma nodded. “Do you think I can convince him to get an internship?” I forced a smile at her. “You’re Gemma Blake. I’m sure that you could do anything you want.” She laughed. “I appreciate the vote of confidence. Why don’t you seem happy about this? I thought you wanted do something with international hotels or whatever. I would think this would be right up your alley.”
Eight “I don’t think you should go.” Laura’s response to being invited to a party surprised me. Normally, Laura was always the one that was trying to get me to do something rash. The two of us sat on the couch, eating the remains of the brownies we’d baked the night before. I glared at her. “Come on. You’re the one that is always telling me that I need to get out more.” Laura sighed. “I know. But that was before.” “Before what?” she’d been acting weird since her fathers visit yesterday. After the lecture he’d given my class, apparently, he’d showed up at the apartment and told her some family news. Since then, Laura had been strangely quiet. When I got home from class, she’d begrudgingly joined me to bake. I tried getting her to talk but mostly she just hummed along to the music I played in the background. Laura made a face. “I just…I mean…” she shoved the rest of her brownie into her mouth. I squinted. “You are h
Fifty-nine: Cesara Luna There were too many people in Boston that knew who I was. But Marco had places that he could take me where people wouldn’t know. “Your family is mob, right?” I said. I didn’t use that word often. I always said ‘underground’ as though that somehow made it less frightening, less of a cliché. But that’s what we both were. Marco nodded. We were sitting at a bar called Allegra’s. It had been owned by the Allegra family, the same one that Giana----or Maria----depending on who were talking to, belonged to. “I’m a cousin. I think. Maybe a brother. Our parents were never very clear, and they did have a weird history together. Either way, we’ve known each other since we were little. Went to the same schools and everything. I made my bones when I was sixteen working for her father. Her father was trying to make his empire expand, and so he arranged a marriage for Maria to the Vitore family. But Maria always had a mind of her own and she ended up
Fifty-eight:Emmilia Vitore I had no cell phone. I had no purse. When I left, the guards didn’t even follow me. Vera seemed to scare even them. I should have known she wasn’t as innocent as she looked. To survive in our world, you couldn’t be a wilting flower. You had to be as dangerous as the men in it. Vera had killed her own husband. I had no doubt that she would try and kill me if I didn’t leave. At least if I were alive, I could try to get Tori away later. I didn’t want to leave. But I didn’t want her to witness my death either. Vera had already killed her husband. I had no doubt that she would try and kill me. I went to the only place that I could think of where I would be safe. Victoria Mariano’s house. The woman I had thought was my mother…. I had no way to get there but walk. As I walked, I couldn’t help but feel the rage that was coursing through me. Everything had been taken once again. A ca
Fifty-seven:Cesare Luna “Pull over!” I demanded. Marco looked at me. “We’ve got to get to Las Vegas. We’re on a time crunch.” “Pull the fuck over!” I demanded. My uncle had told me the last thing that I wanted to hear. “Get out!” I shouted to my uncle. He got out and I did too. I took my gun out of the back of my pants and pointed it it at him. Uncle Augustus laughed. “Are you going to shoot an unarmed man?” “Why not?” I said. “It’s exactly the kind of thing that you would do.” “Ah, but you pride yourself on not being like me. You’re the next generation. You always told your mother that you were going to be better than me. You wouldn’t want to fail your mother, would you? Although, you’ve already failed because you fell for the daughter of the whore that ruined your parent’s marriage.” I thought of Emmilia. I hadn’t noticed that there was a resemblance between her and Maria. But I did re
Fifty-six:Emmilia Vitore I couldn’t help but stare at Vera. “What do you mean, you know my mother? Do you mean the woman that raised me? Victoria?” Vera shook her head. “No, I’m talking about her sister. Victoria’s your aunt. She helped take care of you while your mother was in hiding.” “How do you know her?” She looked away from me. “The hardest part about growing up is realizing that your parents had whole lives before you. That maybe you haven’t known every version of them that you’ve ever been. But you must know…I didn’t have a choice.” “Didn’t have a choice in what?” “Octavious liked to tell our story like he was the greatest romantic of a century. It wasn’t romantic. I was forced to marry someone else. Octavious knew him and he became obsessed with me. He seduced me away from him. But there was a time where I hated him so much that I wanted to kill him. Even when I did finally marry him, I still harbored that. And of cou
Fifty-five:Cesare Luna I made the call I didn’t want to make. My family was planning my funeral, and I went to the New York state prison. I waited outside and a pair of guards brought out my uncle. He was almost an exact replica of my father. It was strange, like watching a clone come out. Marco, who had come with me, shivered a bit. “Why the fuck are we getting the worst man in the mob out of prison?” “Because, he knows where Emmilia’s mother is. And Emmilia’s mother is the one woman who is part of a family that is powerful enough that they can help take on my brother.” “Why haven’t you just asked me?” Marco said. “Are you really going to tell me where she is?” Marco shook his head. “No, because I’m more scared of her and her family then I am of you.” “See? That’s why I need the evil bastard. So that we can find her and help Emmilia. We haven’t been able to find The Fixer, and this is our last resort. Also, I’m starting
Fifty-four:Emmilia Vitore He had finally left me alone. I still had security guards with me. But he didn’t make me sleep in his bed when he realized I couldn’t remember what was happening. I stayed in a room with Tori. Galileo went to work on trying to find out what had happened with his father. On our third day back in the city, there was a knock on the door. “Emmilia? Are you there?” I recognized the voice. It was Vera, Galileo’s mother. I had been with Tori in the kitchen. I had made us sandwiches and drinks. We were sitting at the counter. “Who is that, Mommy?” Tori asked. I got up from the counter. “Give me a moment, honey. Stay right there.” I went to the door. “Vera, is that you?” “Yes,” she said, “can you open the door please? I don’t have a key and the security guards won’t open it for me. Which is ridiculous, because I’m Galileo’s mother.” “I would like to see her. She’s my daughter’s grandmother. Please, let her in.” I wa
Fifty-three:Cesare Luna “What happened?” I asked Laura when she got back. We were back home, in Boston. I needed to find Emmilia’s father and it was hard to do that when I was supposed to be dead. Laura was doing my errands for me. I had to stay in the house, like a ghost. It was horrible, especially when I should have been going after my brother to get my girl back. Emmilia wasn’t his. He was using her to try and take over the family fortune because my daughter was the heir to the Luna fortune. That was the only reason he wanted her. He didn’t care about her at all. But I was in love with Emmilia, and when I got her back, I would do whatever it took to make her mine. Laura’s face was drawn as if she had seen something terrible. “Cesare, you aren’t going to like what I saw.” “What did you see?” “Emmilia knows that you’re dead, but she…” “But what?” I asked. “She thinks th
Fifty-Two:Emmilia Vitore Galileo had to give me his cell phone. Mine had long since been taken from me. There was also no way that he would give me one. He couldn’t have me calling someone that would help me. But Nikos Balis and I had once had something special. He had tried to kill my father and that had been the end of our relationship. If it hadn’t been for that though, we might have still been together. He was incredibly possessive. If I could figure out a way to let Nikos know what was happening, maybe I could get away from Galileo. But I had to do it in a way that would let him know that there was something wrong without alerting Galileo about it. If Galileo knew that I was trying to get away, he would kill Nikos. I couldn’t have another person’s blood on my hands. “Call him,” Galileo said. “What do I say?” I asked. “Tell him that you’re worried because you’ve been hearing rumors about Cesare being dead. Te
Fifty-one:Cesare Luna “Are you sure you need to save her?” Laura asked me this as we were driving back to Boston. I looked at her. “Why would you ask that?” “I mean, as much as you hate to hear this, it is possible that she did fall in love with Galileo and they decided to get married. Besides, you always talk about how she was trying to kill you. You were hired to kill her first, even though you like to pretend that wasn’t the case.” I glared at my sister. “She’s not in love with Galileo. That’s not something she would ever do willingly.” “How do you know?” Laura said. “I mean, you never really saw the two of them together. I lived in the same apartment as her. I saw them. They had a certain something. I don’t think that Emmilia ever acted on it, but there was a chemistry between them. Maybe Emmilia didn’t want to marry you because she still hated you. She didn’t like that she was being forced into the wife role by her uncl