Lorenzo's eyes flew wide. He shouted, frantic,
"Serafina, your body can't take liquor. Stop, now!"
I dropped the bottle on the marble and smiled at him.
"You're right, Lorenzo. How could anyone throw someone's true feelings back in their face? So I drank down your precious darling's little gift. Satisfied?"
And with that I turned and walked away without a second's hesitation, past the soldiers who stiffened along the wall and lowered their eyes, men who had learned long ago when not to look at the Don's wife.
Lorenzo moved to grab me, but Gianna caught his arm at once. Her free hand drifted to the pendant at her throat, fingers stroking the place where the scar slept.
"Uncle Lorenzo, my chest is hurting again. I don't know, maybe it's because Auntie just frightened me so badly…"
Lorenzo watched me go, hesitated a few seconds, and in the end didn't come after me.
He didn't come back to the estate that night.
And I gathered up everything that belonged to me and burned it all to ash.
He didn't call until the next day.
"Serafina, yesterday was my fault. I know your mother's death is a wound in your heart. I shouldn't have said those things."
"But Gianna's heart is weak, and I was afraid something would happen to her. I wouldn't be able to face her mother or the rest of the Family. She's blood. I have to look after her."
I said flatly,
"It's fine. I lost my temper yesterday. Go take good care of her."
"You drank yesterday, so your chest must be hurting. Tomorrow I'll fit you with a new mechanism. Get some rest tonight, and I'll come for you in the morning."
"All right."
The next morning, Lorenzo didn't come back.
Just as well. Not every goodbye needs to happen face to face.
I left the renunciation papers on the table and went out.
At the gates of the Family clinic, Lorenzo called, his tone apologetic.
"Sorry, Serafina. There's a man who won't last the hour without my hands on him. I have to finish him first. We'll do your new heart tonight instead. I'll send one of my men to bring you in."
"Tomorrow's our seventh anniversary. Once it's done, I'll take you somewhere worthy of it."
A perfectly legitimate reason. Perfect for a lie.
What Lorenzo didn't know was that Gianna had already sent word to me.
Because "I" had splashed liquor on one of her gowns yesterday and ruined it, Lorenzo was making it up to her. Right now he was at a private auction with her, about to take the final lot for her: a pink-diamond necklace, the only one of its kind in the world, the kind of thing the Family bought with laundered tribute and never blinked.
It was the first time he'd remembered our anniversary. And he'd remembered it to spend the day with another woman.
"Sure. As it happens, I'd like to give you a gift too."
"Really? I can't wait~"
I hung up, took one last look at the clear blue sky over the harbor, and pressed my flat palm against the center of my chest. The mechanism inside it beat on, patient, borrowed. Then I walked into the clinic without looking back.
Goodbye, Lorenzo.
Meanwhile, after Lorenzo took the necklace for Gianna without a hitch, he carried her off to a candlelit table on neutral ground, then drove her to the clinic himself.
Only when they arrived did he learn that Serafina still hadn't come.
He glanced at the time. 00:00.
Why wasn't Serafina here yet?
He reached for his phone to ask when one of his men came running up the corridor, holding a box.
"Don Falcone, your wife isn't at the estate. Someone left this at the gate. They said it's a gift. From her. To you."
