Page 19 of Tainted Princess
I did so, smearing it across the pale face of sad Saint Brigid, giving her a macabre makeover. Don Carlo picked up the card, careful not to touch my blood, and then lit the thing on fire. As Saint Brigid slowly went up in flames, he handed me the card, then spoke in Italian. “This blood symbolizes your baptism into our Family. You live by the gun and knife, and you die by the gun and knife.” Meeting my eyes, he said solemnly in English. “Please repeat after me. As this card burns, so burns my soul. I enter alive, and I only leave dead.”
I repeated the words, my heart thrashing in my chest.
This was what I had always wanted. To join the De Marco Family as a Made Man, and to carry on my father’s legacy.
And all it cost me was my bachelorhood. Not half bad.
After I had finished repeating the words, we all stood in silence, watching as the card burned low. I held it until the very end, not caring if my fingers were scorched. In the end, I placed the final bit of the card in my palm, holding it until there was nothing but ash. Taking a breath, I turned toward the river, blowing the remains of the Patron Saint of Bastards out into the filthy water, washing away my illegitimacy and making me my father’s son in the eyes of the Organization.
As I watched the ashes float on the night wind, my father placed his hand on my shoulder and squeezed, telling me everything he was feeling in that one gesture.
Neither of us moved as Don Carlo limbed back into his Bentley and drove off, the van hauling Lenny’s body away, following him into the dark.
Tomorrow, I would be married to a woman I had never met, but for now it was just the two of us, alone.
And that was just fuckin’ fine with me.
