Page 268 of Merciless Daddy

I hated crying in public. It felt like losing a negotiation with my own face.

Sal reached down. His hand opened beside mine.

I took it.

He drew me to my feet without pulling.

A glass appeared in my other hand. Donatella, probably, but I was too dizzy to know.

I looked around the room.

At the blackened brick behind glass.

At Katerina with flour still caught near one cuff. At Tonio openly crying now. At Kiryl, healthy and impatient and free.

At the family that had not asked me to become harmless before it made room.

“Gianni believed pain made people easier to own,” I said.

The room stilled.

“All it did was teach us how much stronger we are together.”

I raised my glass.

They raised theirs.

Sal kissed my temple while everyone drank. I looked at the burned wall. It remained black. We remained standing.

Chapter 20

Salvatore

Marco did not ask whether anyone wanted to keep celebrating. He announced it as if he had already checked every calendar, bribed every objection, and arranged the moon over Chicago himself.

“Nero is closed to everyone but us,” he said, standing near the bar with one hand around a glass of wine. “The staff has been paid extra to serve us all, but I want no funny business from anyone.”

Tonio pointed at himself.

Marco smiled. “That’s right, Tonio, I’m talking about you.”

“I am wounded.”

“You have survived worse.”

Katerina folded her arms. “He has had three glasses of wine.”

“Two,” Tonio said.

“Three.”

“Two and a half.”

“Three.”

Marco looked at Salvatore—at me—and lifted his brows. “You coming?”

I looked at Yelena.