6

Alessio

The four months until November flew by: an endless row of sleepless nights, tearful tantrums and hard days of work. On the morning of my bachelor party night, I squatted down in front of Daniel. He was staring at the iPad, watching a series he liked. His hair was ruffled in the front and knotted in the back, but he refused to let Sybil comb it.

I hadn't had the patience to hold him while he did it. We would have to get it over with once the wedding was over.

"Daniele, I need to talk to you." He did not look up. I took the iPad, but he turned on himself.

"Give it to me."

His small shoulders rounded. It was his only reaction. I grabbed the device and pulled it away.

"Soon someone will move in with us. She will be your new mom. She will take care of you and Simona." Daniel's face contracted and he threw himself at me, hitting my legs with his tiny fists.

"Enough," I thundered, grabbing him by the arms.

My anger disappeared as I saw the tears streaming down his face. "Daniel."

I tried to clutch him to my chest, but he struggled. Finally, I released him. In the days following Gaia's death, Daniele had sought my closeness; now he had returned to ignoring me.

I wasn't sure what Gaia had said to him before her death, but it was clear that Daniele had resented me.

I set the iPad down in front of him, then straightened up.

Without another word, I left and went up to Simona's room. Nanny hurried out. In a few days I would finally be able to get rid of the nannies and Gianna would take care of Simona. I leaned over the crib. Simona stared at me and smiled a toothless smile. I gently slipped my palms under her little body and lifted her into my arms.

Holding her against my chest, I stroked her dark blond head. Both she and Daniel had inherited their mother's hair and eye color. Pressing a kiss to Simona's forehead, I remembered the first time I did it two days after she was born.

Gaia had refused to have me present while she gave birth to our daughter and allowed me to approach her only on the second day.

Anger resurfaced as always when I recalled the past. Simona stammered and I kissed her forehead again. She cried when someone other than my sister, mother or I held her. I could only hope that she would quickly get used to Gianna's presence.

I put her back down, even though her cries tore at my heart. I had to get ready for a meeting with Luca and then for my bachelor party.

An hour before the official start of my bachelor party, which Faro had arranged for me, I met Luca in my office. He and his wife Aria had arrived a day early to see how business was going in Philadelphia.

He would find no reason to worry. I had given up sleeping to make sure everything was running smoothly in my city. Luca and I settled into the chairs in my office. I was surprised that he had agreed to come to my bachelor party.

Since he had married Aria, he had backed off a bit.

"My aunt did everything to plan the wedding," Luca said as he relaxed in the chair.

"She thought of everything from doves to ice sculptures to silk bedding."

White silk bedding. Linen that I was to stain with my young wife's blood on our wedding night. I took a sip from my scotch and then lowered it.

"There will be no sheet presentation because I will not be sleeping with Gianna." Luca slowly lowered his glass, squinting his gray eyes. He knew it was not because of Gaia, even though I had not been with another woman after her death.

"It's tradition. It has been for centuries."

"I know and honor our traditions, but this time there will be no sheet presentation." Those words could very well mean my undoing. It was not my choice to ignore our traditions. Only Luke could make that decision, and it was clear that he would not.

I had considered sleeping with Gianna.

She was pretty, but I couldn't get the image of her wide, innocent eyes or how young she looked in her ridiculous clothes without a touch of makeup out of my head.

The women of my past were my age, grown women who could take what I was giving.

"With your first marriage, you had no problem following our tradition. It's not something you can follow as you see fit," Luca said abruptly.

"The last time I got married, the woman was close to me in age. I am almost fourteen years older than my future wife.

She called me 'sir' the first time she saw me. She is a girl."

"She is of age, Alessio. Today is her birthday." I nodded.

"You know I do what you ask me to do. You know I rule over Philadelphia mercilessly, as you expect me to do, but even I have certain lines I'm not willing to cross, and I'm not going to force myself on a girl.

"She's of age, and no one says you have to use force," Luca repeated, and I lost my mind.

I slammed the glass on the table.

"Yes, but I would still feel like I was mistreating her. You can't honestly believe that she will willingly come to my bed. Maybe she'll submit because she knows it's her only option, but she's not willing to do that. I have a daughter, Luca, and I wouldn't want her to be with a man thirteen years older than her."

Luca looked at me for a long time, perhaps thinking of putting a bullet in my head. He would not tolerate the challenge.

"You will present the sheets after the wedding night, Alessio." I opened my mouth to reject him again.

"No discussion. How you create bloody sheets is up to you." I sat back, wary.

"What are you suggesting?"

"I'm not suggesting anything," Luca said.

"I'm just telling you that I want to see bloody sheets, and I and everyone else will take them as proof of your wife's honor and your ruthlessness, as expected." I may have been wrong, but I was pretty sure Luca was suggesting that I fake the bloody sheets.

I took another sip of my scotch, wondering if Luca had experience faking bloodstains.

I had been at the sheet presentation after my wedding night with Aria, but even if I tried, I couldn't imagine Luca sparing anyone.

I had seen him tear a man's tongue out for disrespecting Aria and had been there when he had crushed his uncle's throat. Maybe he was testing me. Maybe he was suggesting something like that so he could see if I was too weak to sleep with my wife.

Growing up in our world, I had learned to see the warning signs. If I failed a test given by my boss, the end result was inevitable. I would be removed from my position in the only acceptable way: by death. Although I did not fear death, I hated the idea of what it would mean for Daniel and Simona. They had cruelly lost their mother.

If I, too, abandoned them, I would cause horrible trauma to my children. To show any kind of weakness in this situation would be fatal.

I would not jeopardize my children's health or my position as sub-chief. I took a sip.

"I will do what you ask, Luca, as my father and I have always done." Luca tilted his head, but the tension remained between us. I would have to watch my back until I proved my worth again.