The Queen They Buried Alive

The old Don was killed in an ambush by a rival crew. At the mass, Vito, the new Don, stood at the very front of the church. I'd rushed back from a job and barely made it. There were only two spots left in the church. One was right next to the new Don. The seat for his wife. The other was at the very end of the guest line. I figured, without even thinking about it, that the spot beside him was mine. So I walked straight toward Vito. But he looked right past me. "Sofia." He lifted his chin, just slightly. "Come up." Around me, the family elders and the heads of the different crews started whispering. "The next Don's wife is a beautiful woman." "Look at those two. They just fit." Vito took the gilded crest plate from the altar and placed it in Sofia's hands. I turned around and walked to the very end of the line. Stood there. Didn't say a word. The entire service, he never once looked back at me. Even the small life growing inside me felt like a cruel joke right now. Maybe it was time to leave. Me and my unborn child. Chapter 1 After the service, they found me. Sofia got to me first. She reached out and grabbed my hand. "Luna, you know how much the Don loved me." "He always said I was like a daughter to him. So it's not that I was trying to take your spot. The family needed me to be beside him." Then Vito: "The Conti family has had people outside the church since this morning." "If your name gets out, you'll have a target on your back before tonight." "We have to keep things quiet. You know how it is." Yeah. I knew how it was. I'd known for five years. I thought about these past five years. I treated the old Don like my own father. He'd had a stroke. Couldn't move. I took care of him like it was my job and my purpose all at once. Every week I drove out to the family estate on the Hudson to sit with him, talk to him, keep him from going out of his mind with the quiet. For most of the past year, to take some of the load off Vito, I ran the family's intel during the day and looked after the old man at night. And now I couldn't even get a seat. Vito left and came back ten minutes later with a white paper bag. "From the bakery on the corner by the estate. Your favorite." The edge of the bag was open just enough for me to see what was inside. Pistachio cannoli. I'm allergic to pistachios. Vito has seen me push them to the side of my plate at family dinners so many times I've lost count. I folded the bag shut and set it on the table. "How far do I have to go, Vito." That wasn't a question. "You won't let anyone know I exist. Sofia is standing where I should be. And now what? You want me to smile and say thanks?" His jaw locked. "Don't bring Sofia into this. She's a friend. To both of us." "I'm not bringing her into anything. She's already in it!" "You're not thinking straight." He fixed his jacket. "We'll talk when you cool off." He didn't wait for me to answer. He shoved the bag into my arms and walked off. The afternoon light through the stained glass hit my eyes so hard it hurt. I pulled a cipher card from inside my coat and dialed the encrypted line my mother's old crew had left behind. "I'm leaving New York. I'm going to take over what's left of my mother's network in the underground." Chapter 2 The handler called back within the hour. "Luna, you need to think this through." "Every rival crew out there is at war. You show up alone with no foundation, one wrong step and you're dead." "I've thought about it," I said. "That territory is dangerous. If they find out who you are, nobody's coming to save you." "I said I've made up my mind." Long silence. I could hear him breathing. "Two days. We'll have people ready to meet you in two." He stopped pushing. Gave me a time and a place, and hung up. I sat there for a bit. Then I grabbed my coat and drove to headquarters. I still owed the old man one last thing. Vito was buried under all the mess that came after the Don's death. Too many crews going sideways, too many meetings, too many people to manage. He wasn't touching any of the paperwork. The family registry needed to be updated. I'd go to the records office, handle it as his son's wife. And while I was there, I'd get my own name taken off. Clean break. Everyone else in this family could treat me however they wanted. And they did. But Don Gallone took me in when I had nobody. He was good to me. That much was real. I wasn't leaving New York without making sure his things were handled right. In the Consigliere's office, I told him what I needed. He pulled up the registry, looked through it, then looked up at me. "Ma'am, the spouse listed under Vito Gallone is Sofia Ferraro." He said it like he was reading off a parking ticket. "There's no family connection on file between you and the late Don. I can't help you." I stared at him. "That's not possible. I've been part of this family for years," I said. "All my papers are notarized." He shook his head. "The registry has to be signed off by the Don personally. It doesn't get things wrong." Signed off by the Don personally. Don Gallone was not a man who let things slip. Everyone in this family knew that. He was careful with everything. Never left loose ends. So he was clear-headed. Sharp. All there. And he sat down and put Sofia's name where mine should have been. He cut me out. Five years I slept in the chair next to his bed. Five years I changed his bandages and turned him through the night. And in the most important record this family keeps, I'm nowhere. I'm not listed as his daughter-in-law. The registry was right there in black and white. Vito and Sofia had their church marriage on file. My name just said Associate. Outside help. That's all. Long before his hands got too weak to hold a pen, he'd already scratched me off the list. I drove back to the estate without a word. When I pulled into the driveway, all the lights were on. Through the front window I could see the living room glowing warm. Every lamp on, the furniture moved around, a pair of women's shoes by the door that weren't mine. I walked in. Sofia was in the kitchen wearing a linen apron. She moved around the counter like someone who'd been living in this house for years. Reaching for the right drawer without looking. Turning the stove down by feel. She heard the door and looked over at me with a soft smile. "Luna, good timing. Dinner's almost done." Vito was on the sofa. A boy was curled up next to him, six or seven years old, small hands tight around a toy car. He had Vito's forehead and jaw. But the mouth was all Sofia. The boy pulled at Vito's sleeve and looked up at me, eyes wide, a little nervous. "Papa, is that the new nanny?" Chapter 3 My hands were shaking. "Vito." My voice came out raw. "You need to explain this." He looked at me from the sofa. Frowned. "Don't go there, Luna. I'm Nino's godfather. That's it." Sofia came out of the kitchen, wiping her hands on a towel. She crossed the room and grabbed my arm before I could pull back. "Luna, come sit. Let me explain." She walked me to a chair at the dining table. Nino followed behind us, both arms still wrapped around Vito's leg, staring up at me like I was some stranger who'd walked into his home. Sofia sat down across from me. She bit her lip. Her eyes went red almost right away. "Nino has Gallone blood," she said. "But his father wasn't Vito. It was Vito's older brother." She stopped for a second to let that land. "We were together. Then he got killed in a turf war. The only thing he left me was this boy." Her voice cracked. "I've been moving around with Nino for years. If Vito hadn't taken us in, we'd be dead." Vito lifted Nino onto his lap. His other hand went to Sofia's shoulder, a quick little pat, easy and smooth, like something he'd done so many times it didn't even register anymore. I sat there watching them. I didn't say a word. I didn't cry. Vito's voice went hard. "Luna, cut it out." "Nino is the only blood this family has left. You want to sit here and watch a kid lose everything? End up with nothing?" The only blood this family has left? Something I'd kept buried for two years came crashing out. I got pregnant once. Just past two months. It happened after an ambush. A rival family found one of our safe houses. I caught a bullet getting out, and by the time I found cover, the pain in my stomach was coming in waves so bad I couldn't see straight. I crouched behind a stack of shipping crates in a warehouse basement and called Vito. He picked up. Three seconds of dead air. "I'm in the middle of a sit-down with every senior boss we've got." His voice was calm. "If I come get you now, every guy in this room knows who you are by morning. Too risky. Get to a hospital on your own." I opened my mouth to tell him I couldn't stand up. He'd already hung up. I dragged myself to a private clinic. What followed was hours of hell on an operating table. After a long, brutal fight to keep the baby alive, they managed to save it. Barely. But the moment I walked out of that room, a thousand thoughts were spinning through my head. The family was surrounded on all sides. Every rival crew was circling, waiting for a crack. Things were already falling apart. And part of me thought, selfishly maybe, that Vito didn't need one more thing to worry about because of me. So I chose to bury it. The pregnancy, the baby, all of it. I didn't say a single word to him. Vito, I'm carrying your child too. But you'll never know that now. I closed my eyes. "Enough with the stories. Just say what you want." My voice was flat. "Whatever the real point of all this is, spit it out. I don't have time." Sofia and Vito traded a look. She turned back to me, folded her hands, put on her careful face. "Luna, I know this brownstone is in your name." "But Nino needs a registered family address to qualify as a recognized branch heir. The property would need to go into the family trust for a while." "As soon as the baptism's done, I'll sign the title right back over. I swear." She looked up at me with those big, hopeful eyes. Waiting. I laughed. Just came out. "All of this. Years of it. The stories, the tears, the whole performance. Just to lie to me." I looked at them. "Aren't you two tired?" The room went quiet. I reached into my coat and took out a folded piece of old paper. I'd grabbed it from the Consigliere's files before I left headquarters. I opened it up and laid it flat on the marble table. The writing was in church script. No way to argue with it. Vito Gallone and Sofia. Married in the Church. Registered five years ago. Dead quiet. Chapter 4 I thought Vito would panic. Instead he just looked tired. Like he'd been waiting for this and still didn't have a good answer. "Yeah. The papers I gave you before were fake." "Five years ago, we needed to get Nino recognized as a legal family heir. His real father's identity couldn't come out. So I signed a church marriage with Sofia. It was just paperwork. That's all it was." Sofia started crying and dropped to her knees in front of me. "Luna, as long as Nino's future is safe, I'll go to the Church right now and file to have the marriage annulled. I'll give you back the title. All of it." I let out a short, cold laugh. "Don't bother." "You've been hiding me for years anyway. Whether that marriage certificate exists or not, it doesn't change a single thing for me." "Once I finish up the last batch of intel work I have, I'm gone." My calm clearly caught Vito off guard. Before he could say anything, I turned and walked into the bedroom. Packed up what was mine. It didn't take long. On my way out, I saw Vito feeding Nino at the table. Sofia was next to them wiping down the counter. A nice, neat little family picture. Nobody looked up. I pulled open the heavy front door and stepped out into the New York night. I drove to the cabin and stayed there. But the next morning, I got called back. Emergency family council meeting. A rival crew had grabbed one of our Capos. Their boss was holed up in his house out in the suburbs, refusing to come to the table for any kind of talk. The intel line sent back word: this guy had a serious thing for women. He regularly had girls brought to the house on the side. The family put together a plan right away. Send a woman in, dressed up like one of the girls he'd ordered. She gets inside, keeps him busy, sends a signal, and the team hits the house from the outside. Grab the boss, free the Capo. It was basically a suicide run. There were only two women in the room who could pull it off. Me and Sofia. Sofia's eyes went red. "I'll go." Vito spoke up. "Since we've got two people, let's do it the old way. Draw lots. Keep it fair." Everyone at the table nodded. Vito turned around to set up the slips. He rolled them into two small balls and put them on the table. With everyone watching, Sofia picked one up. She unrolled it. Blank. No mark. I saw Vito exhale. The relief was right there on his face. Sofia was safe. The other one was still sitting on the table. I didn't even want to open it. The result had been decided before the draw ever happened. The operation was set for dusk. I dressed up as one of the call girls and walked into the house. I had a tiny receiver tucked into my ear canal. A few seconds passed. Nothing came through on the comm line. I switched manually into Vito's private channel. His voice, low and soft, talking to Sofia. "Don't blame yourself. Both slips were blank." "This was my call. It had nothing to do with luck. I've got people in place. Luna will be fine." Sofia's voice came through next, shaking, almost a whisper: "But what if something happens to her..." "It won't. The backup team is already set." I froze. Vito rigged the draw. To keep Sofia safe, he put me in the kill box. Footsteps behind me. Close. Right at the back of my head. A cloth soaked in something chemical got shoved over my nose and mouth. I fought. I kicked. The strength drained out of my arms and legs like water. Through the receiver, the Consigliere's voice came blasting through: "Don! The backup team is down! The enemy moved early! We've lost contact with Luna!" Every drop of color drained out of Vito's face.