After Losing Our Baby, I Chose His Rival Family

The ambush the night before had brought utter chaos to the Bellandi compound. Gunfire had punched through windows, shattered the Virgin Mary statuette in the garden alcove, left a line of bullet holes stitched across the garage wall like a warning written in Morse code. The damage was so extensive that none of us found peace afterward, least of all me. As Donna, I was expected to be resilient. I was the Don's wife, the woman who stood beside him at funerals and poured wine at sit-downs and kept her composure when men spoke in careful euphemisms about bodies and debts. But how could I be that woman when I had just learned I was four weeks pregnant, only to lose that fragile life in the same violent moment? The doctor had told me in a voice scrubbed clean of emotion, the way men in this world delivered all unbearable truths, as facts, not feelings, because feelings were a luxury the Family could not afford. The pain was numbing, the blood loss and broken bones draining me of any tears. I was too exhausted to even cry. I lay alone on our bed, the one with the carved mahogany headboard that Dante's mother had shipped from Palermo the year we married, staring at the ceiling where a hairline crack ran from the light fixture to the crown molding like a fault line no one had bothered to repair. I murmured to myself, "That's too much." My body ached, my soul even more. And yet, my husband, Dante, the Don of the Bellandi Family, was nowhere to be found. He was out dealing with the Family's recovery, holding emergency meetings, sending soldiers to fortify the perimeter, fielding calls from allied capos who wanted assurances that the Bellandi operation was still stable. As he should be. He was the Don, after all, and his duties were immense. But part of me screamed in anguish. Could he not spare a moment for me? For the Donna who was fighting not just for her own life, but for the life we had created together? What was more, when I had been lying helpless on the ground near the east entrance of the estate after the attack, Dante did not rush to my side. He had rushed to save Alessia, his childhood friend, instead. I remembered the way he had moved, how every soldier in the compound had understood the order of priority by watching the Don's feet, how the direction he ran told every man present where his loyalty truly lived. He had reached her in seconds. He had reached me never. Then, when they finally found me, Dante did not comfort me or stay by my side. He just told the soldiers to carry me to the clinic while he shielded Alessia from the sight of my bloodied body, as though I were the ugliness in his life and she were the thing worth protecting from it. I stayed at the clinic alone. Not once did Dante visit me, not even to hold my hand as the doctor delivered the devastating news that I had lost our child. The doctor had paused before telling me, his gaze flicking to the door as if expecting the Don to walk through it at any moment. He never did. And the doctor, to his credit, did not pretend otherwise. He simply folded his hands and said the words, and the fluorescent light above us hummed its indifferent hymn, and somewhere down the hall a soldier groaned through a morphine haze, and that was the sound that accompanied the death of my child: a stranger's pain and a light that needed replacing. I was alone in that grief, surrounded by injured Family soldiers who were battling their own wounds. The clinic was crowded, cots lining the hallways, the smell of gauze and disinfectant so thick it coated the back of my throat, and I felt like just another number in the chaos. So, I left and came back home alone, walking the gravel path between the clinic building and the main house with my arms wrapped around my midsection as if I could hold together what had already come apart. But home was not any better. The emptiness of the house mirrored the emptiness in my heart. There was no trace of Dante, not even a note. His study door was closed, the desk lamp off. His coat was not on the hook by the entrance. The espresso machine in the kitchen was cold. I curled up in bed, aching for the one thing I needed most, him. But what I got instead was silence, the deep, particular silence of a Mafia household in the aftermath of violence, where even the walls seem to hold their breath. Exhausted from the weight of it all, I fell into a restless sleep. When I woke the next morning, the bedroom door was ajar, and for a moment, I thought I was dreaming. But then Dante walked in, a towel wrapped around his waist, tapping away on his phone like I did not exist. Steam trailed behind him from the hallway bathroom, carrying the scent of his cologne, dark cedar and something faintly metallic that I had once loved because it meant he was close. Now it only meant he had come and gone without waking me, without checking, without caring enough to leave the door open so I would know he had returned. "Dante, when did you come home?" I asked, leaning on the headboard, still feeling the lingering fatigue in my bones. "Just now," he muttered without looking up, heading straight for the closet to change. His shoulders were tight, his jaw set, every motion clipped with the efficiency of a man whose mind was three rooms away. I swallowed the frustration building inside me. "Are you going back to the office?" He did not even bother to look at me, his attention consumed by his phone, his thumb moving over the screen with the same deliberate authority he applied to everything except this marriage. "After this attack, I'm really busy, Bianca," he said, his tone sharp as a blade drawn across glass. "Unlike you, who can sleep through it. Maybe instead of grumbling, you could make breakfast." I clenched my jaw, biting back the retort that danced on my tongue. Sleep through it. As though I had chosen unconsciousness. As though my body had not simply surrendered after bleeding and breaking and losing a child he did not even know about yet, or perhaps did not care to know. He had been like that lately, distant, short-tempered, always somewhere else, even when he was right in front of me. The Don's authority filled every room he entered but left no warmth behind, only the cold residue of a man who wielded power the way other men wielded affection, reflexively, without thought for what it cost the people nearest to him. So, I turned without a word and went to the kitchen. Even as I cooked, cracking eggs into the skillet while early light slanted through the bulletproof windows, my mind wandered to Alessia. Was she with him all night? Had he slept at her apartment in the building the Family maintained for protected associates two blocks from the compound? But I tried to shove those thoughts aside, forcing myself to think positively. Surely, it was just the weight of the attack that had Dante so distant. Surely. After breakfast was ready, Dante finally joined me at the table. He sat in his usual chair, the one at the head, and reached for his espresso without acknowledgment. I stayed silent, not wanting to provoke another curt response. But then he spoke first, as if nothing had happened, as if the world between us had not shifted on its axis sometime in the dark hours while I slept alone. "We have looked into the ambush," he said between bites. "Other Families were hit too. Grimaldi's people, possibly freelance crews. So, I will be late again today. Just bring lunch to my office like usual." "Okay," I replied, my voice low, keeping the storm inside me at bay. He sighed, almost as if my compliance was a relief to him. A muscle in his jaw relaxed. He set down his fork and, for the first time since walking in, let his gaze rest on me for more than a passing second. "By the way, how are your wounds? The doctor said they will heal soon." "Yes," I said quietly. "They are healing." But as I was about to mention the miscarriage, to finally say the words aloud, to let the truth fall between us like a grenade on white linen, the doorbell rang, cutting me off. The sound was absurdly civilized, a two-tone chime echoing through the foyer, and it erased the moment as cleanly as if someone had drawn a blade across the thread of my courage. Dante was out of his chair in seconds, rushing to answer it. I heard low voices at the door, the deferential murmur of a delivery soldier, and then Dante's clipped acknowledgment. A few minutes later, he came back, holding a large bouquet of flowers in his hands, deep red roses wrapped in black tissue paper, the kind arranged by the florist on Mulberry Street who serviced only Family orders. For a split second, hope flickered in my chest like a match struck in a dark room. Maybe those were for me, a peace offering, a sign that he cared. "Wow, flowers?" I asked, my voice bright with surprise. "But you know I am allergic to pollen." His response was a low murmur, already dismissive, his eyes back on his phone. "They are not for you, Bianca." The breath I had been holding escaped in a shaky exhale. My thumb found the pale band of skin where my wedding ring used to sit, pressing into the absence of it, rubbing that bare place the way a tongue finds the socket of a missing tooth. "Then who are they for?" "You are starting to nag again," he said, rolling his eyes. "These are for Rocco. He was injured in the attack. I am visiting him later." "Oh." Rocco was Alessia's husband as well as Dante's underboss and closest friend, one of the few men in the Family who had earned the right to disagree with the Don and live to tell about it. People said you could always tell when Rocco was about to push back in a meeting because he would rap two knuckles on the table first, a small, sharp sound that made everyone in the room go still. Of course, the flowers were not for me since I was allergic. Dante knew that. He had always known that. And yet he had never once thought to order something I could actually receive, a book, a candle, a single word written on paper in his own hand. The gesture had simply never occurred to him, because the gesture had never been about me. But suddenly, I felt like I was not really part of their world, even if I had married Dante three years ago in a ceremony that half the Commission attended. For their tight-knit circle of childhood memories and shared history, the afternoons running through the back lots of Bellandi-owned buildings, the funerals they had attended before they were old enough to understand what the closed caskets meant, I was the outsider, the one who could never get close enough, the woman who had entered the family by marriage but would never be blood. As Dante continued to eat, I watched him from across the table, my heart growing colder with each passing second. He did not know the depth of my pain, and I was not sure he ever would. The morning light caught the signet ring on his right hand, and I saw his thumb move across its face, a slow, unconscious rotation, the way a man touches a weapon he has carried so long it has become part of his body. At that moment, as Dante casually took the bouquet and left without so much as a second glance, something inside me snapped. Not loudly. Not the way glass breaks. More like the way a wire under too much tension finally gives, silently, completely, and the thing it was holding together simply falls. I knew those flowers were not actually for Rocco. They were for Alessia, to comfort her while she sat vigil at her husband's bedside in the Family clinic. Dante would walk in with those roses and she would look up at him with those dark, grateful eyes, and her breath would catch once, almost soundlessly, before she said his name, and anyone paying attention would hear the confession in that pause. Deep down, I had always known how Dante felt about her. For him, Alessia was not just a friend. She was the girl who had known him since he was three months old, someone whose presence had shaped his entire life, who had been there when his father was still Don and the world was a simpler architecture of loyalty and blood. She had sat beside him at his father's funeral. She had been the first person he called when he took the ring, the signet, the title, the weight of the Bellandi name. And while I was the woman he had chosen to marry, the strategic match that consolidated two branches of the Family tree and pleased the old guard on the Commission, Alessia had always come first, in ways that hurt more than I could ever admit. There had been countless days when I felt a deep, burning jealousy. Alessia had Rocco, her husband, who doted on her endlessly and wore his devotion without shame. And she had Dante, my husband, who seemed to care for her in ways he never did for me, with a tenderness that vanished the moment he turned to face his own wife. Every time I tried to talk about it, Dante would dismiss my feelings with the same tired argument, delivered in that flat, final tone that a Don uses when he considers a matter closed. "You are always jealous of others, Bianca. I don't treat you any differently. Whenever I buy a necklace for Alessia, I buy one for you too. A bag, the same. Everything is always equal." But he did not see the real problem. It was not about the gifts. It was about the fact that Alessia and I were always compared, always tied together in his mind, two columns in a ledger he kept balanced out of obligation rather than love. The more he tried to "equalize" us, the more it drove me away from her. I hated that every time I looked at my things, the pearls, the silk scarves, the leather clutch still in its dust bag, I was reminded of her, of how much space she occupied in his life, in our life. Still, I tried not to cause any trouble with her, especially after the ambush. The Family was in chaos, soldiers stationed at every entrance, capos calling in favors, the Commission demanding answers, and the last thing anyone needed was the Donna stirring up personal drama in the middle of a war footing. So, I simply replied, "I will take time to visit Rocco, then." But Dante shut that down instantly. "No need. I will represent you," he said dismissively, grabbing the bouquet and walking out the door without so much as a second glance. The door closed behind him with a heavy, definitive sound, the kind of sound that expensive doors in Mafia estates make, not a slam, but a seal. The house swallowed the echo and gave me back silence. I stayed silent, biting down the rising frustration, and busied myself with household chores, the mechanical motions of a woman who had learned to channel grief into industry because the alternative was screaming into the void of a house that did not care. As I gathered Dante's clothes from the closet, the row of dark suits hanging with military precision, each one tailored, each one worth more than most men earned in a month, my hand froze. There, on his shirt from last night, pale against the dark fabric, was a faint red lipstick stain. Just below the collar. Just where a woman's mouth would press if she leaned in close enough to whisper. A sharp pain shot through my chest, and before I could stop myself, I whispered, "Is it Alessia's?" Tears blurred my vision as my mind raced. Could Dante have spent the night with her? While I had been alone in this bed, drowning in my grief, bleeding through the bandages, mourning a child he did not even know existed, had he been comforting Alessia instead? Had he sat beside her in the clinic, held her hand, let her rest her head against his shoulder while his wife lay in an empty room listening to the sound of her own heartbeat and wondering if it, too, would simply stop? The jealousy I had tried so hard to suppress bubbled to the surface with a violence that frightened me. Could he have lied about looking into the ambush, when in reality, he had been by her side at the clinic? The timeline unraveled in my head like thread pulled from a spool. He had not come home. He had not called. He had not sent a single soldier to check on me. And when he finally walked through the bedroom door, he smelled of cedar cologne and steam, freshly showered, as though washing away the evidence of wherever he had been. All these suspicions that I had buried deep for so long, tucked beneath the surface of duty and loyalty and the unspoken code of a Donna who does not make scenes, now surged back with full force, cutting through me like a blade. I stood abruptly, my chest heaving with the weight of it all. The lipstick, the flowers, his coldness, it all pointed to one thing. I had always been the third person in their relationship. Always. The wife on paper, the Donna in name, the woman who sat at the head of the table while the real intimacy happened elsewhere, in corridors and clinics and quiet moments I was never invited to witness. I grabbed my phone, my hands shaking. Every fight between Dante and me had been about Alessia, and every time, he had found a way to make me feel guilty, to make me apologize, to turn my pain into an inconvenience he managed the way he managed territory disputes, with cold logic and the absolute expectation that the smaller party would yield. But not that time. I was not going to let him twist things around anymore. I would stop being the shadow in my own marriage. The pale strip of skin on my ring finger seemed to pulse under the morning light, not with pain but with the strange, clean ache of something finally released. Without hesitation, I dialed the number that had called me some time ago. The call I had ignored, thinking that I could still make things work with Dante, that loyalty and patience and silence would eventually be enough to earn what should have been freely given. "Hello, Don Matteo," I said, my voice steady even though everything inside me was trembling. "I have thought about your offer, and I have decided to transfer to Moretti territory under your Family's protection." The line held a beat of silence, warm and deliberate, the silence of a man who did not rush because he did not need to. And then, measured and certain, his reply came.

Some time ago, Don Matteo Moretti had offered me a position as a teacher at the parish academy near the Moretti compound, the very same academy where Dante and I had first met. It was also the place where I had once been one of the most outstanding students, the girl who finished every term at the top of the honors board while the sons and daughters of capos and underbosses coasted on family name alone. Teaching there had been a long-cherished dream of mine, one I had quietly buried when I chose to follow Dante to the Bellandi estate after our wedding. I had put aside my aspirations, thinking that my role as Donna was my new purpose, that standing at a Don's side carried more weight than anything a classroom could offer. However, after three years, Don Matteo's unexpected call about the academy's vacancy had stirred something in me. There was an instructor retiring, he had said, and I was the first person that came to mind to fill the position. His voice had been unhurried, the way powerful men speak when they already know the answer but extend the courtesy of a question. I could hear the faint, rhythmic click of a rosary bead turning between his fingers as he waited for my response. At first, I dismissed the idea. How could I, as Donna, possibly abandon the Bellandi Family? My duty was inside Bellandi territory, or so I had believed. But after yesterday's devastating ambush and the realization that Dante had prioritized Alessia over me while I lay bleeding on the floor of a safehouse that smelled of cordite and old stone, the clarity hit me. I was Donna in title, but to Dante, it seemed I was nothing more than an afterthought. The loss of our baby, my near-death experience, none of it had shaken him. Not the blood on the marble. Not the surgeon's grim mouth. Not the silence of the room afterward, when there should have been a heartbeat on the monitor and there was only a flat, merciless line. Why should I stay in a Family where my presence barely mattered to the Don, the man I called my husband? My decision was made, and with a firm heart, I called Don Matteo back, agreeing to transfer under the protection of the Moretti Family. "That is wonderful news, Bianca. Our Family will always welcome you," Don Matteo said, his voice warm, a smile I could almost feel through the phone. There was a gravity beneath the warmth, the unspoken understanding that once he extended his protection, violating it would be an act of war. "I will take care of the transfer paperwork and send you the files as soon as they are ready. You should start preparing things on your end to ensure a smooth move." "Thank you, Don Matteo," I replied, my voice steady, though a whirlwind of emotions brewed within me. "I appreciate the opportunity. I promise I will work hard." After ending the call, I stood there for a moment, taking in the enormity of the decision I had just made. My thumb found the pale mark on my ring finger where my wedding band used to sit, rubbing across the bare skin in a slow, involuntary circle. It was final. I was leaving. But first, there were still obligations to fulfill, one of them being Dante's lunch. I packed it up in the Bellandi estate's vast kitchen, where copper pots hung like dull armor from wrought-iron hooks and the marble counters still held the ghost-scent of that morning's espresso. I added a few things for the men who were repairing the sections of the compound that had been torn apart in the hit, soldiers and laborers alike working side by side with plaster dust on their shoulders. It felt like one last act of duty, something I had done so many times before, but that day, it had a different weight. That was my goodbye to a life I could no longer sustain. As I headed to Dante's office, I could not help but reflect on my time inside Bellandi territory. The truth was, I did not hate it. The Family members, for the most part, had been kind and welcoming to me, even though I was not originally one of them. The older wives brought me pastries on feast days. The soldiers tipped their hats when I passed through the courtyard. The children at Sunday dinners called me Donna Bianca with gap-toothed sincerity. But kindness from the Family did not erase the hurt I felt in my own home. If my house was not a place of love, if my husband was not there to support me when I needed him most, what was the point of staying? A home should be a sanctuary, but for me, the Bellandi estate had become a place of loneliness, its high ceilings and polished corridors echoing with the particular silence that only neglect can produce. Lost in thought, I arrived at the Don's office and, as usual, made my way in without needing permission. The guards at the heavy oak doors nodded and stepped aside for me, a courtesy that still held even if the marriage behind it was crumbling. The workers there greeted me warmly, and I stopped by the lounge to leave the food I had prepared. As I stood there, my phone buzzed. It was an email from Don Matteo with the transfer forms attached. The moment was real, and I decided to print them out in Dante's office later. But just as I was about to head there, I overheard the familiar sound of gossip. I paused, my heart sinking as I recognized the subject of their conversation. "You should have seen it," one of the associates whispered excitedly. "At the clinic, Don Dante brought Alessia flowers. It was so romantic." "Really? He has been so attentive to her. With everything Alessia's going through with Rocco in a coma, she must be devastated." Another voice chimed in, lower, conspiratorial. "I wonder... if Rocco doesn't wake up, do you think Don Dante will marry Alessia?" "Who knows? I mean, some say they are already meant for each other. That they always were." A gasp escaped my lips before I could stop it. Were they serious? My chest tightened as I stood there, frozen in place, my thumb pressing hard against the bare skin where my ring had been. "What? How can that be? Alessia was already with Rocco," someone asked, incredulity lacing their voice. "Well, I heard Rocco was never really her match in blood. And besides, it is not unheard of for Dons and Donnas to marry for alliance even when there is no real bond, right?" They were right. Dante and I had not been a match born of blood or destiny. We had met in the academy, and it had been Dante who pursued me first. I resisted at first, clinging to the belief that I would wait for the man I was truly meant to find, the one my instincts would recognize without question. But Dante was persistent, and he convinced me. He made a promise that if by the age of seventeen neither of us had found that person, we would marry each other, bind our families, build something lasting. So, we did. For three years, we had lived together, thinking we had escaped the pull of what the old wives in the neighborhood called the blood-bound match. But hearing their words at that moment, a deep, crushing realization settled over me. What if Dante really had found his rightful counterpart? What if that counterpart was Alessia? Tears stung my eyes, but I swallowed them back. I could not let them see my pain. Not here, not in the lounge where every whisper circled back to someone with rank. With a cold tone, I interrupted their conversation. "Is that true?" The associates gasped, startled by my presence. "Donna Bianca, we didn't see you there..." But before I could press them further, the lounge door burst open. A soldier stood in the frame, his face drained of color, and his voice broke through the tension with the blunt efficiency the Family used to deliver the worst news: "Rocco is dead."

The funeral was held with solemn reverence in the private cemetery behind the Bellandi chapel, the air thick with grief and the scent of rain-soaked earth and fresh lilies piled against black marble. Made men stood in dark overcoats with their hands clasped before them. The priest's voice carried thin and reedy under a sky the color of gunmetal. I stood at a distance, watching as Dante wrapped his arms tightly around Alessia, who was sobbing uncontrollably. Her breath caught once, almost soundlessly, before she said his name into the lapel of his coat, and anyone paying attention heard the confession in that pause. The sight was painful, a familiar ache spreading through my chest, but I pushed it down, determined not to let it show. I was still Donna. In this world, composure was the last armor a woman had. When I stepped closer, Alessia immediately glanced in my direction. Her tear-streaked face twisted into something like guilt, and she hastily pulled away from Dante. "Oh, Donna Bianca, I am so sorry. It is just that... we have been very close since childhood," she stammered. Before I could respond, Dante beat me to it. "You don't have to apologize, Alessia," he said softly, his hand still lingering on her shoulder. His thumb moved once across the face of his signet ring, a slow, unconscious drag that had nothing to do with comfort and everything to do with possession. His tone was gentle, far too gentle for a man comforting a friend, especially in front of his wife. I let out a quiet sigh, resigned to the scene unfolding before me. It was not the first time Dante's attention toward Alessia had stung. But that day, amidst the whispers of Family members gathered in black clusters under dripping umbrellas and the sadness that pressed down like the low sky itself, it cut deeper. I could hear them, those same whispers that followed me everywhere inside Bellandi territory, murmuring that Dante had long since lost his feelings for me. That the marriage was a formality. That the Donna walked the estate like a guest who had overstayed her welcome. But if that was true, why had he married me at all? I could not help but wonder if it was all tied to the bond that formed between Alessia and Rocco shortly before our wedding. Had Dante married me to prove something to her then? Had I been a statement, not a choice? I shook my head, dismissing the thought. It could not be. Dante and I had a relationship long before any of that. He would not have proposed to me just to make a point to Alessia. Or would he? Lost in my thoughts, I had not realized the funeral had ended, and the mourners had dispersed. The soldiers had filed away. The priest had closed his book. The caretakers waited at a respectful distance with their shovels. Only the three of us remained, standing under the cloudy sky that threatened heavier rain at any moment. The chapel bell had stopped tolling, and in the silence that followed, I could hear the distant idling of armored sedans waiting at the cemetery gate. The silence between us stretched thin, and I turned to leave. There was no point in staying any longer, especially when it was clear that neither of them registered my presence as anything more than a formality. As I walked away, I heard Alessia's soft voice behind me. "We have to find the people behind these attacks, Dante." "Of course," Dante replied, and there was iron beneath the softness now, the Don surfacing through the grieving friend. "We will find Rocco's killers. I will make sure of it." I stopped in my tracks, the words hanging in the air like a noose tightening around my heart. They were planning together again. Already folding into each other, a unit of two that had no space for a third. But that time, I did not want to hear more. I could not. With the pain in my chest overwhelming me, I broke into a run, not caring where I was going, only needing to escape. The grounds beyond the chapel gave way to the old tree line at the edge of Bellandi property, and the forest called to me, offering sanctuary for the torment that had built up inside me. I ran through the trees as the drizzle began to fall in earnest, blurring the world around me until the branches were dark streaks and the path was nothing but mud and shadow. Deep inside, that quiet voice I carried, the survival instinct shaped by a lifetime spent around dangerous men and coded silences, the voice I had come to call Chiara, stirred. She was calm and steady, pulling me back from the brink of losing control. Calm down, Bianca, she urged. You need to settle your mind. After all, Dante is not your true match. Remember that. Focus on yourself. Her words were like a balm to the storm in my heart. "You're right," I whispered, coming to a halt in the middle of the forest, breathing heavily, rain dripping from my hair and running cold lines down my neck. "If Dante can find the one he was always meant to be with, then I can too. I deserve that, don't I?" Of course, Chiara answered with confidence, and the certainty in that inner voice was the first solid thing I had felt in days. With a renewed sense of resolve, I made my way back to the estate. I showered, letting the water wash away the remnants of my emotions, the cemetery mud, the traces of incense that clung to my coat, and then headed to the closet to begin packing. "Tomorrow, I will leave for Moretti territory," I muttered to myself. It was time to move on, to reclaim the life I had sacrificed for someone who did not see my worth. My thumb drifted once more to the bare place on my ring finger, rubbed the pale band of skin, and then I pulled my hand away and reached for the suitcase instead. However, as I pulled the luggage from the top shelf and began to fold clothes into it, the door to the bedroom creaked open. Dante stood there in the doorframe, still in his funeral black, his expression unreadable, his eyes drifting from my face to the open suitcase in my hands. Behind him, the hallway was dim and quiet, the bodyguard who usually stood post having retreated to a respectful distance, as if even the soldiers sensed that whatever was about to unfold in this room was not their business. His thumb moved slowly across the face of his signet ring. "What are you doing?" he asked, his voice calm but laced with something cold, almost detached.

"Just organizing the closet," I lied, feeling the weight of the suitcase under my hands as I folded clothes with a calm that masked the storm brewing inside me. Every crease I pressed flat was deliberate, measured, the way a woman learned to move when she lived inside a house full of men who read weakness the way other people read newspapers. "I see. Anyway, I will be traveling to another Family soon with Alessia to discuss the ambush hit," Dante said, as if it were the most casual thing in the world. His tone was indifferent, almost rehearsed. The Don of the Bellandi Family stood in the doorway of our bedroom like a man passing through a hotel lobby. "While you are in the closet, can you help me pack?" "Sure," I replied, my voice hollow. I kept my eyes on the clothes, refusing to meet his gaze. My thumb rubbed once, unconsciously, across the pale mark where my wedding ring used to sit, then stopped. "I will take a shower, and then I will be working late at the office again. You don't need to prepare dinner," he added, walking toward the bathroom. The bathroom door closed, and I heard water hit marble, and the silence that filled the space he left behind was the truest thing between us in months. I did not respond that time, my silence louder than any words I could have mustered. I kept folding my clothes, placing them neatly in the suitcase. It did not matter anymore if he worked late or spent the night at Alessia's townhouse, or even shared her bed. I had lost the energy to care. There had been a time when the thought alone would have broken me open, when I would have sat on the edge of that bed and wept into my hands until my chest ached. That woman was dead. The woman folding blouses into a leather suitcase had buried her quietly, without ceremony, and felt nothing but the faint echo of relief. The next morning, I was startled awake by the sound of the bedroom door creaking open. Dante walked in, looking disheveled. His shirt was half-untucked, the collar carrying the faintest trace of perfume that was not mine. His face was twisted in a scowl, and for a moment his thumb dragged across the face of his signet ring before his hand dropped to his side. "Why did you only pack your things and not mine?" he asked, his voice laced with annoyance. I glanced up at him with a neutral expression. "Oh, that was my mistake. I will pack yours later." "Fine," he muttered, clearly unsatisfied but too tired to argue further. He reached into his wallet and pulled out a wad of cash. The bills were crisp, the way they always were when they came from the safe in his study, the room no one entered without invitation, the room where the real business of the Bellandi Family was conducted behind a locked mahogany door. "Here for today. I also bought you breakfast, so make sure you cook lunch. Oh right, can you make a double lunch? One for me, and one for Alessia. She is still devastated about Rocco's death after all." I took the money and slipped it into my purse with the simple answer, "Sure." Rocco. The name still landed heavy in the room even now, weeks after they had put him in the ground. A trusted Bellandi captain, mortally wounded in a street ambush that nobody had been able to prevent. The kind of death that happened in this life, sudden and absolute, the kind that left everyone recalculating loyalties and distances. And somehow, impossibly, Rocco's death had become the thing that pulled Dante and Alessia closer together instead of apart. His grief had found its way not to me but to her, and hers had reached back, and I had stood in this very bedroom watching the space between my husband and his childhood friend collapse into something I could no longer pretend was innocent. "Oh, and pack my things by tomorrow," Dante added, heading toward the door. "I will go again since I have got an important meeting at the office. See you." Before I could answer, his phone rang, and he was gone, already immersed in another world, one that did not include me. I heard his footsteps on the stairs, then the low murmur of his voice giving instructions to one of the soldiers stationed at the front entrance, and then silence. The compound swallowed him whole, the way it always did, and I was left standing in a room that smelled like his cologne and someone else's perfume. I stared after him, the man who had once showered me with affection became barely noticing my existence. In the early days of our marriage, whenever I gave him the silent treatment, he would immediately try to make amends. He would bring me my favorite foods from the bakery on Carmine Street, whisk me away on impromptu trips to the vineyard upstate, or surprise me with gifts presented with that crooked half-smile that used to make my heart stutter. He would sit on the edge of the bed and take my hand and say my name until I looked at him, and then he would not let go until I smiled. But those days were long gone. At that time, even my indifference did not register. I could have been a piece of furniture. I could have been a shadow on the wall. The voice inside me, the one I called Chiara, the survival instinct sharpened by a lifetime spent too close to men who solved problems with silence and violence, murmured through the quiet. Looks like he really doesn't care about us anymore, Bianca. I nodded, letting out a deep breath. "Well, that just means we won't have to feel guilty about leaving for Moretti territory," I whispered to myself. I climbed out of bed, heading to the bathroom to shower. After breakfast, I went to the market, preparing to cook Dante's last meal. Since that was to be our final day, I might as well go all out. Besides, I had to cook for his rightful counterpart too. I smirked at the thought, the bitter irony of it all. The Donna of the Bellandi Family, shopping for groceries to feed her husband and the woman he actually wanted. There was a comedy in it so dark that even the old capos would have appreciated the punchline. Chiara stirred, that dry voice curling through my thoughts with a hint of dark humor. Meat. We definitely need lots of meat to make it more festive. "Absolutely," I agreed, while imagining Dante's expression when he realized I was gone. I pictured him standing in the empty bedroom, the closet bare on my side, the hangers swinging in the draft. I pictured his thumb going to his signet ring, that possessive little habit, and finding no one left to possess. On my way back from the market, I passed by the training grounds where the young recruits were taking lessons from the senior soldiers. The Bellandi compound had its own practice yard behind the warehouse row, a stretch of concrete and chain-link where boys who were barely old enough to shave learned to move the way the Family needed them to move. After the recent ambush hit, the Family needed new blood, and the training had become more rigorous. I watched them for a moment, the sharp bark of an instructor's voice carrying across the yard, a pang of nostalgia hitting me as I realized that would be the last time I would see them as their Donna. Feeling a surge of affection for the young soldiers, I walked to a nearby corner shop and bought treats for them. I handed out the snacks, smiling as they gathered around, their hard expressions softening into something young and grateful. "Thank you, Donna Bianca," they said in near-unison, their voices filled with gratitude. "May you always be happy wherever you are." I smiled, though their words felt heavier than they knew. "Keep working hard, kids," I told them. It almost felt as if they knew I was leaving, as if they could sense the goodbye in my actions. In this world, people learned early to read departures. They recognized the look of a woman who was already gone.

As I returned home and busied myself in the kitchen, I prepared two lunch boxes with the same care I would have given a Sunday dinner. The kitchen in the Bellandi compound was oversized and cold, all marble countertops and professional-grade appliances that had been chosen for show rather than warmth. I moved through it the way I had for years, muscle memory guiding my hands. I used to cook two lunches often, but back then, one of them was for me. Because Dante and I would eat together in his office at the back of the legitimate front, the import company on Fulton Street, chatting and enjoying our lunch breaks behind a closed door while his underboss and soldiers moved through the hallway outside. But I could not remember the last time we had done that. The last few days, I was just the delivery girl, and even then, if I lingered too long, Dante would grow annoyed, his eyes flicking to his phone, to the door, to anywhere that was not me. "Since when did everything change?" I muttered under my breath, wondering how we had gotten here. When had the love we shared faded into indifference? Was it when Alessia's husband, Rocco, had been killed in that ambush? Or had it begun long before that, in the small erosions I had been too loyal to name? As I walked to Dante's office with the lunch boxes in hand, I felt an odd sense of detachment, like I was watching someone else's life unfold through a window I could not open. That would be the last time I did it, preparing a meal for him. The last time I would bend over backward for someone who could not be bothered to notice I was slipping away. Then, as if he was dedicated to worsening my day, the moment I walked into his office, it was empty. I was not surprised, since he had a habit of disappearing without a word. The room smelled like Turkish tobacco and old leather, and on the desk his pen sat at an angle across an unsigned document, as though he had been called away mid-thought. Later, after asking his new underboss, I learned that Dante had gone to Alessia's place. "I will just wait inside then," I said, keeping my tone neutral as the underboss left me alone in Dante's room. The silence was thick, and I took the opportunity to open the drawer of his desk. My heart raced, but I knew I had to remain calm. The drawer slid open with the smooth resistance of oiled wood, and inside, among the leather folder of contracts and the loaded pistol he kept within arm's reach even here, I found what I was looking for: the Family stamp that would make everything official. The Bellandi crest, pressed in heavy brass, cold against my fingers. I pulled the printed letter that Don Matteo Moretti had sent me and read it in my hands. The paper was thick, expensive, the Moretti letterhead embossed at the top. A formal offer of protected transfer under the Moretti Family's banner. "Do I need Dante's signature here?" I muttered under my breath. Thankfully, Don Matteo had thought of everything. All that was needed was the Family stamp, so I did not need to beg Dante for a signature. The Don of the Moretti Family understood how these things worked. He understood that a woman trying to leave a marriage inside this world could not afford to ask permission from the man she was leaving. A wave of relief washed over me as I pressed the stamp down, the Bellandi crest biting into the paper with a finality that made my breath catch. The transfer was done. Official. Binding. One copy was left on Dante's desk, the other safely tucked into my bag. It was the key to my freedom, allowing me to cross the territorial line. "The next thing to do is..." I whispered, feeling the weight of the decision before me. Before I could finish the thought, Alessia's voice entered my mind through the private line the Family women shared, the discreet network of calls and messages that ran beneath the official channels like water under stone. "Bianca, I heard you are already in Dante's office? Sorry, he did not inform you, he was in a hurry to my place. Could you bring lunch here?" Her soft tone grated on my nerves. I had no desire to go to Alessia's townhouse, especially after the last time when she, Rocco, and Dante had treated me like a ghost at dinner, the three of them locked in conversation while I sat with a full plate and an empty chair's worth of attention. But that would be my last act of service to Dante. So, I forced myself to respond. "Okay," I said briefly, dragging my feet out of the room. When I knocked on Alessia's door, it was Dante who opened it. His brows furrowed and his voice tight. "Bianca? Who told you to come here?" he asked while hastily zipping up his pants, with a shabby shirt hanging untucked around his waist. The air behind him carried warmth and the scent of a room recently occupied by two people who had not been eating lunch. I met his gaze for a second before shifting my eyes to Alessia behind him. "Am I bothering you?" Alessia stepped forward, her breath catching once, almost soundlessly, before she spoke. "No, of course not. I asked him to come. Dante, relax." Dante, as if he had not accused me a moment ago, nodded and sat on the sofa, making himself comfortable like it was his own home. He stretched one arm across the back of the cushions, legs spread wide, the posture of a man who owned every room he entered and felt no need to pretend otherwise. "Come in, Bianca," Alessia said, taking the lunch box from my hand. "Let me help you." I followed her in, pretending to be friendly as I asked about her well-being. "Are you okay?" She put on a practiced sad face, her words hollow. "It was hard at first, losing Rocco. But I realize now that he did his duty as a captain. I should be proud of him, right? Even if it cost him his life." Her tone was all wrong, her eyes dry and unconvincing. The performance of a woman who had rehearsed grief until it sounded like a speech at a banquet. Rocco had been her husband, and she spoke of his death the way one might speak of a car that had broken down at an inconvenient time. I could not help muttering in my heart, Poor Rocco. He did not even get a chance to catch them before God called him home. But instead of dwelling on Rocco's fate, I felt a growing pity for myself. I had allowed that charade to go on for too long. As I opened the lunch box, Alessia's eyes drifted to my neck, where the tattoo marking me as Dante's wife was visible, the small, elegant crest inked into the skin just below my ear, the mark that in this world meant claimed, spoken for, untouchable. "So, that's the mark Dante told me about. Isn't it fun to have one?" I didn't even glance at her, focusing on the food. "It's just a tattoo. You can get one too, if you want. But you were really married to Rocco, so your mark would be real, not fake like mine." I was planning to have the tattoo removed soon anyway. It meant nothing to Dante, and it meant even less to me. Without waiting for her answer, since Alessia seemed at a loss for words, I turned around to set the lunch on the table. Suddenly, my phone rang. Glancing at the screen, I saw Nico, my twin brother's name, flash across. So, I picked up and stepped outside, pulling the door shut behind me. "Bianca, is it true what Don Matteo said? Are you really coming back to Moretti territory?" Nico's voice was full of concern. "It's not because Dante hurt you, right?" I sniffed, holding back tears. The sound of my brother's voice did something to the careful walls I had built. They did not crumble, but they shifted, and behind them was everything I had been refusing to feel. "Yeah, I'm sorting out the transfer now. How's Mom?" Nico did not push the subject. He was sharp enough to hear what I was not saying, and kind enough to leave it alone. "She's fine, but we have all missed you, especially Mom. When are you coming home? Don Matteo said maybe this week?" "I have missed you too. Don't worry, I will be home either today or tomorrow." As I hung up, I turned to see Dante approaching from the doorway. He leaned against the frame, arms crossed, studying me with the same expression he gave associates who had said something that required further investigation. "Who called you?" he asked, his eyes narrowing slightly. "My brother," I replied truthfully. "He was just asking how I am doing." Dante nodded, seemingly satisfied with my answer. "Join us for lunch, then, since you are already here." His nonchalance stunned me. There was no shame, no guilt in his eyes. He acted like it was perfectly normal for me to be delivering lunch to him and his lover, as if the three of us were old friends sharing a pleasant afternoon. "No thanks," I said quickly, forcing a smile. "I have already eaten, and I have other things to do." "Alright, see you at home," he said dismissively, already turning back inside. But I knew better. We would not be seeing each other at home again. My next stop was the family lawyer's office to finalize the paperwork for my divorce, the kind of formal split that would be ratified in court and recognized by the Families. As I arrived at the lawyer's office, doubt crept in. I hesitated at the door, my hand on the brass handle, the street behind me loud with traffic and the ordinary noise of a world that did not know or care that a Donna was about to dissolve her marriage. But then, memories of that humiliating night flooded back, along with the whispered rumors that moved through the Bellandi compound like smoke through ventilation, the way Dante and Alessia had become inseparable while I stood in the shadows, forgotten. The news of their bond had spread through every Family associate and connected household like wildfire, burning away any lingering hopes I had for our marriage. I took a deep breath, steadying myself. My thumb found the pale mark where my ring used to sit, rubbed it once, and then I let my hand fall to my side. I stopped reaching for it. I chose myself. "Live happily with your rightful counterpart, Dante," I muttered. "Because I will too." With renewed resolve, I signed the divorce papers and returned to the compound one final time. I left both our wedding rings and the papers on the dining table with a short note: Please make time to sign it. The rings caught the light from the chandelier, two circles of gold sitting on dark wood, and for a moment they looked like something left behind at a crime scene. Evidence of something that had ended badly. In the evening, I stepped on the gas and left the Bellandi compound behind. At that moment, I felt a strange mix of relief and anticipation. Even though I held the transfer letter in hand, stamped and official, a small part of me worried whether the soldiers at the territorial checkpoint would allow me, their Donna, to leave without resistance. In this world, a woman leaving a Don's household was not simply a personal matter. It was a political event. It was a statement that could be read as weakness, as fracture, as blood in the water. But, as expected, the rumors of Dante and Alessia's bond had already spread. The soldiers at the checkpoint barely questioned my request. One of them, an older man whose face I recognized from Sunday dinners at the compound, offered me a sympathetic nod before waving me through. He did not say a word. He did not need to. The look in his eyes said everything: We know. We're sorry. Go. Night passed swiftly, the familiar streets and guarded corners of Bellandi territory fading in my rearview mirror as I drove toward Moretti land. I was not tired, despite the long drive through the night. In fact, I was eager, ready to reclaim my life, to return home. The highway stretched out before me, dark and open, and for the first time in months the silence around me felt like freedom instead of neglect. As the Moretti Family border came into view, a checkpoint marked by a black SUV parked beneath a streetlight and the silhouette of armed men, a familiar figure stood waiting apart from the others. It was my twin brother, Nico. As soon as I stopped, Nico was already at my door, pulling it open. The silver lighter he always carried was in his hand. He flicked it shut with a decisive snap, the sound cutting through the quiet morning air like a period at the end of a sentence. Decision made. His sister was home. "Welcome home, troublemaker," he teased, his eyes sparkling despite the early hour and the faint circles beneath them that told me he had not slept. "Now, move over. Let me drive the rest of the way." I laughed, a genuine sound that surprised me, a sense of normalcy washing over me for the first time in weeks. "Sure, thanks, baddie." Settling into the passenger seat, I stretched my legs, feeling the weight of my journey lift as Nico pulled away from the checkpoint and the Moretti soldiers watched us go with the quiet respect afforded to the Don's guests. Just then, Dante's voice pierced through my mind, a frantic call on the private line, panicked and raw in a way I had never heard from him before.