Page 105 of Vow of Silence

“You sound like Benito.”

“Good,” she snaps. “I should. Because it’s the truth of the matter.” Brigida sighs, collapsing against the chair and losing her air of superiority. “I’ve seen what happens when words are let loose without properly considering the consequences. When things are said in the heat of the moment, the resulting actions can potentially change the lives of many.” She pauses, picking atinvisible lint on the chair. “It can take generations to undo that damage.”

“How many chances, though?” I lean forward. “How many flags must he raise before somebody—I suppose Gennaro, now—looks at the patterns, the similarities, and fucking does something about it? He was passed over for don because he’s not reliable enough, for fuck’s sake.”

I want to scream at her, to spit out the words fighting to be free,“He stole your son’s tongue!”to see if it’s the straw that breaks the camel’s back. To know if it’s enough.

But I don’t. Because that’s Benito’s story to tell. His atonement to deliver.

“I don’t know,” Brigida mutters. “I’ve asked myself the same many a time.”

“So why tell me this?” Why put the same festering hate in my heart for the man if I can’t do anything about it?

“Because you deserve to know before the ink wets your marriage certificate. You deserve the opportunity to walk away from this family knowing what we are.”

“You know I’d never be allowed to do that.”

She smiles weakly, sadly proud of me for understanding the seriousness of adopting her name.

So, why tell me? If she’s just debunked her bullshit line about being given the truth before it’s too late, then why tell me? And why do it now? Before I change my name. Before I’m trapped in their family.

“I want to teach you the art of manipulation via psychological means.”Her words echo in my mind. She just schooled me on the fucking art—firsthand.

Brigida’s coy glance to the side confirms my suspicion. “You want me to be the one to deliver his justice,” I hiss. I’mnota part of the family. Not yet. Not bound by the same code. “Why would I do that when it could start a war? When it would surely destroya chance at happiness for your son? Haven’t we suffered enough, Benito and I?”

She lifts her gaze, dropping it briefly to my fidgeting hands.

Oh, fuck no.“You think I’m worth that sacrifice, don’t you? You’d trade your son’s happiness for a stab at revenge.”

“You said it yourself. How many red flags must he raise before someone does something about it?”

I huff a disgusted laugh. “You’re pathetic. You know that? Your traditions, your rules. They make you weak against your greatest enemies—those within.”

“Don’t you want justice for your mother?” Her shrewd gaze sears at my flesh.

“Of course I fucking do.” I shake my head. “But I’ll get that when I sit at the head ofmyfamily’s table.”

“You honestly think you’ll be able to bend centuries of tradition to get there, don’t you?” Her smile mocks me.

I rise from the seat. “I don’t think I will. IknowI will.”

THIRTY-SIX

Benito

“Romulus,” Arseni scoffs, dumping his second helping of scotch into a tumbler. “I wonder how long it took him to come up with that name?”

You should know.I glare at the fuck from my position near the unlit fire, elbow on the mantle. The scrap of charred timber between my fingertips halves with each rough scratch I make along its surface.

Papa frowns, instructing me to drop the fucking thing and stop fidgeting.

I flick it into the hearth.

“How many workers were laid off last year?” My father tilts his head, watching Arseni.

Thepakhanslows his movements, returning the bottle of scotch with a measured hand. “Thirty-five when two of the major contracts moved north.”

“Thirty-five.” Papa nods. “And you never heard of any of these men taking up the jobs our new friend speaks of? No whispers about unfamiliar faces hawking the parking lot, looking for weak men to target?”

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