Page 37 of The Mafioso’s Bride

“Antonio hasn’t given us Giuseppe,” he says.

“He will.”

“Three more families broke with the Lombardis after last night. The story has already moved through half the city.” Dante sits across from my desk.

A floorboard sounds in the hall.

Dante continues before I turn toward it. “So tell me. Did your strategic marriage accomplish what we needed?”

Giada

The office door stands open three inches. Dante sits inside with Luca, and his question reaches the hallway before I touch the door.

“Did your strategic marriage accomplish what we needed?”

I stop beside the wall. Luca answers at once. “Yes. The marriage was a strategic move, and it worked. The Rafinelli-Lombardi alliance collapsed at the altar. After the gala, three more families withdrew their support.”

“Giuseppe remains free.”

“His support is shrinking. Taking Antonio alive has cost him more.”

The skin beneath Luca’s white shirt scratches my shoulders. I wore it from his bedroom because my blue one lay folded on the chair and his was closer. The hem reaches my knees. Forty minutes ago, he kissed the side of my face and told me to sleep while he showered. His shirt belongs in his room.

“And your wife?” Dante asks.

I turn before Luca answers. Twelve floorboards carry me to the stairs. Behind me, Luca says my name. The stairwell wall cuts off the rest of his answer as I descend. Twenty-three steps lead to the second floor. My room waits across the hall from his, unchanged except for the clothes I moved yesterday.

I close the door and remove his shirt. It takes two attempts to fasten my bra. The hook slips once, then catches. I put on gray trousers and a plain white blouse.

My blue tardigrade shirt remains folded in Luca’s room. My thick socks are on my feet. I bought the shirt with his money. The card bears my name, but he pays the bill. The shirt is mine under the rules he gave me.

My feet stay on my carpet. The wedding was a strategic move, and it worked.

Papa called me a problem Giuseppe agreed to accept. My mother said I should be grateful any man would take me. At the church, Dante ordered Luca to marry me, and Luca obeyed. I treated the result as a choice because Luca was kind after the order. Kindness doesn’t change the origin of a transaction.

The front door closes downstairs. I cross the hall into Luca’s bedroom and take my blue shirt from the chair. In my room, I remove my thick socks and fold them with the shirt inside my suitcase. I leave it open.

The door opens after a knock. Luca steps into the room in dark trousers and a white shirt, cuffs undone. His attention moves from the clothes in the suitcase to my face.

“Are you leaving?”

“No.”

His shoulders release a fraction. “Why is your suitcase open?”

“I moved my belongings out of your room.”

“Why?”

“They belong in here.”

He comes closer, then stops beyond reach. “You told me you wanted to sleep in my bed.”

“I wanted to last night.”

“Only last night?”

“That is what I said.”