Page 113 of Fake Dark Vows

In order to wipe them from the planet completely, I needed those allies. I needed everyone to turn their backs on the De Lucas, so that they were alone and desperate. I needed them to be without a single friendly soul to call out to.

And then, I would strike.

After, of course, I made them admit to their part in my family’s murder.

I sigh and sit up. My phone is vibrating with a number of notifications. I glance at it quickly before I drag out a pen and paper to start making a list.

I have been told, by Gia, that I should hire a personal assistant.

I have also told Gia that I would rather take my eyes out with a melon baller than trust my organization system to another living being.

She told me I was throwing a dramatic ‘mantrum’ and stalked away, but she never brought it up again.

If what she’s saying is true about the child, this would be a helpful backup indeed. I make some notes on the paper, assigning some of my more specialized operatives to the task.

The great irony, of course, in claiming that one of the De Luca boys has a bastard is that while I have been vigilant my whole life about having protected sex, there is one time that I didn’t.

And I can’t think about it because if I do, the memories I have worked so hard to suppress will come roaring back.

I cannot think of Caterina like that. I can’t remember her taste, or her smell, or the way she moans and flushes pink when she comes.

I can’t think of her that way because I refuse to let her close to me again.

This time, I think darkly as I open my email, will be different.

This time Caterina won’t be able to control me.

I will control her.

And through that, I’ll get the vengeance that I am owed.

Caterina

Today

My hands shake as I move my necklace so the locket is in the center of the chain, heart-shaped and winking at my collarbone. My makeup looks immaculate, and instead of the slightly disheveled single mom looking at me, I see someone else entirely.

Someone who has been coiffed within an inch of her life.

Someone elegant.

Someone who looks like she could be Elio Rossi’s wife.

I definitely look a little different than the last time Elio saw me. I use a lot more night creams and potions now, that’s for sure. My skin is slightly less naturally dewy, more artificially so.

There’s another difference.

When he saw me last, I was a girl. I was in my early 20s, sure. I had my degree in accounting from Columbia practically emblazoned across my chest, and I had just passed my CPA exams.

The world felt like it was going in my favor. I felt like I was made of sunshine and starlight, despite the fact that my family was active in the organized crime world.

I had everything I wanted, and I didn’t even know what that was.

I cringe when I think about that girl.

I thought I knew everything.

I knew nothing.