Page 31 of Third Degree

My father was obviously useless in trying to figure it out. I remember refusing to eat dinner for a week to spite him just for his refusal to tell me, but I never got it out of him. That bastard.

After those first few painful months turned into a year, I still hadn’t been granted the freedom that was struck as part of the deal. Eventually, my anger at my family for moving me away from Elio and banning me from seeing him shifted to becoming frustrated that I still hadn’t been granted the freedom I was promised. My father had always kept up his end of bargains, but he was dragging his feet on this one.

I became impatient but was told the day I turned twenty-one was the day I would be allowed to go out on my own.

We had decided it was best that I moved to the West Coast because there were other friendly associates of our family’s business out there in case I needed protection. Not that I thought I would need it, but if I could appease my father, I would agree to it. My father forbade me from moving anywhere up north, so that was how I ended up in San Diego.

Every month, he deposited money into an account for me, but I liked to work so I didn’t have to rely on what he gave me.

That was how I eventually met my three best friends, Maeve, Chelsea, and eventually Tatum. I was the oldest, but she was the first one to fall in love.

Of course, it happened to be with a tainted Made man, so I made sure I was quiet whenever I was around them so I didn’t out myself. I had no idea if Julian had any association with my family.

I tended to hang out with Chelsea, my closest friend in the group and the complete opposite of me. She was the loud to my quiet. She loved parties compared to my love of being at home. She complemented me in every opposite way, yet we somehow had taken an instant liking to each other and just gravitated together.

Yet I kept many secrets from them. None of my friends knew about my past or my real name. I wanted to keep that part of my life separate. I wanted to live these years the way I wanted to and not in the way I had been forced.

I used my middle name when I moved out here for safety reasons and rarely spoke my last name unless I had to.

For the last almost ten years, I had made a life for myself out here. I spent every day doing the things I loved to do, knowing that one day, I would have to step back into my family’s lifestyle. One day, I would become a Mafia princess again, but I wanted to keep being Daphne for now.

I adjusted my black minidress that I paired with my favorite pair of white Converse. Hey, some things never change.

I walked up the path to Tatum’s house and immediately spotted my friends in the corner of the lawn.

“Hey, Daphne!” Maeve, my favorite blonde single mom, exclaimed. I gave her a quick hug and then one to Chelsea, who was there with her brother, Ronan. Chelsea and Maeve always looked similar except Chelsea was loud, fun, and energetic—at least usually.

“Are you okay?” I asked Chelsea, who kept looking around the backyard inconspicuously.

“Yeah. Totally fine.”

I hated these events because I hated being in a large crowd of people. They made me anxious and worried that I was being followed by someone my father had sent or that somehow someone here would know who I was.

I wasn’t necessarily a paranoid person, but I also knew the freedom I was granted came at a price. It came with the knowledge that I was opening myself up to the risk of someone abducting me and using me as leverage if they wanted something from my father. It wasn’t just my family I hated for forcing me into this life. It was the life I hated, too.

Tatum came over to us from the inside of the house, looking radiant in white. Her backyard was filled with tiny lanterns and twinkling lights. There was music filtering the air which only added to the noise of the crashing waves from below us. In the corner was a bar with signature drinks, and the other side boasteda long table wrapped in white tablecloth. She had set this up, wanting all the family members to know each other before the big wedding at the end of the week.

“Are you enjoying yourself?” She pointed to me. “As much as you can?” She added the last part for me. It was no secret I hated these gatherings, but I still tried for my friends.

“It’s beautiful. You look stunning,” I offered.

“Doesn’t she?” Julian, Tatum’s fiancé, slid next to her.

He reminded me of the type of guys you would see in any scary Mafia family. He was the stereotype of a character in a movie, which made it kind of ironic that the overly friendly Tatum fell for him. Today his long black hair was gelled back, and he was wearing his typical all-black look. His tattoos peeked through the collar of his shirt up his neck.

“I want you guys to meet my father,” Julian announced to the group.

We had already met his brother during their joint bachelor/bachelorette party, but his dad remained a mystery. From what Tatum had shared, his dad had become a parent at a young age, and considering Julian’s ties to the criminal underworld, it was likely that his father was still involved with that life.

A part of me felt curious about which Mafia family they were connected to, yet I guarded my own secrets closely.

It was like a deck of cards I wasn’t ready to lay on the table just yet. Besides, with only a few months left here, I intended to cross the finish line before I had to bid farewell to my persona as Daphne and return to being Gianna.

“Everyone, this is my papa, Elio Marchetti,” Julian introduced him to the group, but the world around me started to spin, and the kind greetings of my friends became muffled in the background.

I heard nothing. Just watched this man as he shook my friends’ hands.

A rush of emotions overwhelmed me as Julian introduced his father to the group. Elio Marchetti, the man who had changed my life when I was just eighteen, stood before me after twelve long years of separation.

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