"But don't worry. Even though you're surrendering your stake, I'll still take you as my own. From now on, you'll carry my name as my wife."
"Your monthly keep will only go up, never down."
"As for Gemma, I won't let her show her face in front of you, or question your place at my side."
After all these years, he hadn't sharpened in any other way, but he'd certainly learned how to keep two women and call it honor.
"Lorenzo, you really have it all worked out, don't you? I'm supposed to hand over my earning points and go home to play some kept woman with her palm turned up?"
"I don't want it!"
Gemma pulled out a recording of me. My own voice played back, clear in that silent room, saying I'd honor the bet and give up my stake.
Then she handed me a voluntary surrender of blood-stakes, drawn up tight as a noose.
Renata's eyes went red as she lunged to snatch it from the table. I stopped her with a look.
Then I picked up a pen and signed.
Gemma's face flushed with excitement.
Something complicated flickered through Lorenzo's eyes, but satisfaction won out in the end.
I set the pen down, deliberate, the click of it loud against the wood, and asked: "Satisfied?"
Lorenzo nodded and announced to the crew gathered there:
"From now on, Gemma is my partner-in-blood. She takes Adriana's seat."
Some of them felt the chill of what that meant for their own necks. Others were already falling over themselves to bend the knee.
"We'll follow Ms. Russo's lead from now on, every word."
"What are you standing around for? Clear out Ms. Bellini's things and make room for Ms. Russo!"
The travel mug Lorenzo once bought me was knocked to the floor, dented where it struck.
The blanket I'd knitted by hand fell, and got trampled under several pairs of shoes.
Even the orchid I'd kept alive on the sill had its branches snapped off.
But I didn't stop them. I didn't get angry.
I just remembered the day we'd first taken this place, when he'd lifted me off my feet and spun me around.
"Adriana, we did it. This is our empire."
My vision blurred for a second, then cleared.
I stood there, watching the place I'd bled years of my life into
get hollowed out piece by piece.
Until the brass plate on the door changed from "Bellini's Office" to "Russo's Office."
Only then did I turn around
and walk straight into Lorenzo's office.
I sat down in his chair. I folded my hands in my lap and went very still.
I said: "Lorenzo, you're cast out."
