BELLA “I’m willing to die for Mama Helena’s lasagna and gnocchi any day,” Val said, licking her spoon. Mamma gave patted her on the back, flattered by her comment, but then pinched her arm, making her squeal. Both Zia and I saw that coming from miles away. We laughed. “No one talks about dying in and around this house,” Mamma scolded. “And for you girls, never utter those sinful words.” As if we lived in a sinless world. I rolled my eyes. Val gave an apologetic smile and sipped from her glass of coke. “We wouldn’t need to say it out loud because the amount of fat in these would literally kill us one day.” Zia scoffed, grabbing a bite of lasagna, and then pushed her palms out, seeing Mamma take a step in her direction. “Mamma, I’m just joking.” “Why do you eat it when you have to complain?” “It’s not like I can puke everything out now.” “Then stop puking stupid words.” Val and I could barely contain our laughter, the sounds, which according to my Mamma, were too unladylike, but

BELLA “I work out here?” She puckered her lips. “Now that you have guests, you forget about me?” I looked at Adonis, impatient to know who this woman was. From my experience, women were a lot smarter than men. Men often thought with their dicks, but a woman... could sense another’s spur with their sixth sense, even from a long distance. “This is Ros,” Adonis introduced. “Rosaline Guerra, my consigliere’s sister. And Ros, this is Abi.” I returned her stare. Domenico Guerra has a sister? Coming to think of it, she looked familiar—eyes in the lightest shade of brown, the small nose, thin lips and blonde hair. But I had looked into Domenico’s information carefully and there had been no mention of Rosaline. “A consigliere means—” “I know what a consigliere means,” I cut in before Ros could complete, which made her narrow her eyes at me. Turning to Adonis, I said, “Do you mind if I go ahead?” He nodded. Adonis’s presence was bothersome, but I knew I could take it—unto a certain level—

ADONIS I couldn’t figure out what was going on inside Ros’s head, but she looked both taken aback and a bit enraged at the same time, probably because she had a habit of intimidating others. “If you think of hurting so much as a hair on his head, you’ll suffer in ways your useless brain can’t even fathom.” The threatening tone in Ros’s voice made me boil with rage. I had never been this angry at her. “And if he gets hurt, my mouth won’t be the only thing doing the talking.” Okay, that was it. Before I could but in, Abigail stood up on her feet, and edged the distance between her and Ros. There was a different type of fire in Abigail’s eyes. It was as if she had lost control of a side she preferred to keep hidden behind her calm persona. “And just so you know, if you ever threaten me again, your mouth will be the only thing left to do the talking.” Ros’s lips twitched, and she finally gave in with a burst of breathy laughter. Turning to me, she stated, “I like her. At least, she is

BELLA Adonis had texted me saying he wouldn’t be at the gym today, but he had given me a green signal: However, the gym will be at your disposal and Ros will be there. That wasn’t the green signal I had hoped for. But fuck! As sly as Ros seemed, she was probably rooting for me to not show up. That

“I did not know that.” My shock was entirely genuine. “So just because you didn’t marry at their will, they named you...” “The designated slut of the Vitale Crime Family.” I was about to say 'a spinster', but this was worse. I truly felt bad for her, because I was twenty-six, two years older than