Page 4 of Made to Sin

My hands aimlessly touched the tan skin around my neck, feeling empty with the thin straps and plunging neckline. “Which gaudy necklace is it today, Maria?”

I sounded bored, despite expensive jewelry being a girl’s best friend. It was mine too before this marriage. Marco loved to flaunt his wealth, and I was the display. Needless to say, he drained the fun out of everything.

Maria lifted a large case against her chest, opening the velvet top to reveal an emerald-covered piece. I immediately gasped at the grandiose sight, never seeing anything like it.

She nodded, agreeing with my reaction. “Beautiful, isn’t it? It’s custom made, one of a kind.”

I didn’t question her, the presentation was telling enough. Instead of enclosing in a full circle, this necklace had its two chains following the open cut of the gown. A small metal bridge connected them at my cleavage as a few smaller emeralds finished the waterfall effect. The design accentuated my full breasts, yet also blinded anyone who dared to look.

I hated that this beauty came from Marco, but I couldn’t help myself from falling in love with its intricate simplicity. Out of all the jewelry I’d adorned, this was easily my favorite.

With the necklace and everything it stood for feeling like a few pounds on my neck and my eyes finally losing their cloudiness, Maria deemed I was ready to go.

—

The luxurious hotel venue gleamed under the casting moonlight of the Upper East Side. Its double doors slid open at a mere lift of the security guard’s pointing finger. Without stepping a foot inside, I already knew once I entered, it was going to be hard to leave.

Marco didn’t have similar reservations, pushing his meaty fingers against my back to guide me toward the ballroom.Vintage decorations littered the short walk, benches and artwork passing by in a blur.

“Be on your best behavior, tonight,” he warned.

Since I didn’t have anything nice to respond, I didn’t say anything at all. Marco took my silence as acquiescence and rested his hand on my shoulder to walk in like the endearing couple we weren’t but faked to be.

I wanted to rip Marco’s dyed black hair off his scalp the second he touched me, but as eyes turned to stare, I smiled and fell into my role.

I panned the room, taking in the different families in attendance. It was unheard of for theCosa Nostrato sit around amicably and guise their plans of eliminating the person beside them. The handgun strapped to each man was the telltale sign. There had to be a compelling reason for why they gathered.

Unsurprisingly, I wasn’t the only one intrigued. As we walked over to our table, the other bosses’ conversations were already on the subject with their women counterparts eavesdropping. Marco and I joined to do the same.

“The kid is going to make our business look laughable,” Romeo, the short and stubby boss of the Bartolos, spat out with jealousy swimming in his eyes.

“There goes the Beneveti reign. Maybe it’s a good thing Salvatore was shot dead. He has been dictating the families for too long, it’s time for a new opinion,” Bruno Conti suggested, lifting a waiting brow. Even though he wasn’t much younger than the rest, there was some stigma against him as the newer one of the group, and he desperately wanted their approval.

Carlo Moretti, the oldest standing don after Salvatore’s passing, gave it to him. “Bruno’s right. Well, it’s only fair to pass to the Morettis. We are following the Beneveti in every aspect anyway.”

Romeo scoffed, face turning red as if he couldn’t hold in his distaste. “This isn’t a line of succession, Carlo. Being second bestdoesn’t guarantee you the spot.”

From what I’d heard around, the Camellos and the Bartolos never got along well, but, surprisingly, Marco agreed with Romeo’s statement. “If anything, the Camellos deserved the spot more. We’ve been nothing but cordial to you all. Who knows when Carlo will have another of his anger fits and shoot us all?”

“Cordial or coward?” Carlo bitterly snapped.

Marco scowled. “I wonder who was the one praying for Salvatore’s downfall every night without the ability to do anything about it? Now that his son is finally taking over, you want to try your hand? That sounds like a coward to me.”

The bosses continued their bickering, but I didn’t bother sticking around to listen or to meet the subject of their pissing contest. I assumed he would be like the others: a man-child who believed he now held the power of the world.

The bar was much more interesting than the Underworld’s corrupted politics anyway.

—

I was in the middle of waiting for my martini when the room fell silent. Collectively, heads started to turn toward the entrance, and I guessed it was none other than the man of the night— though it was hard to be sure from the secluded corner I was sitting at.

My patience thinned. I was thirsty, and the bartender had stopped making my drink as she was also staring at the door. What was so special about this guy that demanded the room’s attention anyway? It wasn’t as if he was anything other than a person who was too comfortable around a gun.

Nothing new, nothing special.

My fingernails eagerly tapped the counter to catch her attention.“Excuse me, can you please hurry up with that?”

She gave me a look that showed how displeased she was with me interrupting her nosy venture before aimlessly mixing mydrink and passing it over the black-marbled ledge.

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