Chapter 2

Isabella’s POV

I refused to believe that, just like that, my fate had been sealed. I’d been bought and sold like some sort of commodity in the market, but that wasn’t the worst part. I had no idea who my buyer was. Not even a face to pinpoint and rain curses in the middle of the night. Just a low, smooth, and velvety voice to pin the beginning of my suffering on.

“Amore?” Papa’s voice reached my ears. It was a little in the distance but I could hear it quite well. “Amore, where are you?”

I said nothing. There was nothing I could say. So I sat there, rooted in my spot, with my knees up to my chest as I stared out of the window. The wall-length window made it easy to check out the scenery below. From my room up on the first floor, I could make out really small details in the town below. It was dark and supposedly chilly if the people that hurdled together were a good indication. Even nature understood what I was going through, sadness, disappointment, anger. I hadn’t found the right person to channel it to yet, but once I did…

“Amore!” My door swung open to reveal my father standing at the entrance of my bedroom. Gray hairs streaked his head, and I sighed in worry, knowing that the man was only fifty years old. By his side was Senor Luigi. They both walked into my room with the latter looking everywhere but my face. Papa reached my side and crouched down to my height, cupping my face in his hands. “I failed you, Amore.”

Yes, yes, you did.

I wanted to whisper, but I couldn’t. I couldn’t bring myself to hurt the already hurting man. As much as I wanted to blame him, I couldn’t. Someone needed to take the blame, but it wasn’t Papa and he wouldn’t be taking it.

I blamed the system for setting up useless rules. I blamed the mafia men who betrayed Papa and put him in this huge debt. If they had kept their word and loyalty as expected of every mafioso, we would never be in this predicament. Instead, I was forced to be auctioned off, a plan that still went sour even after our intricate planning and scheming.

“Never in a million years did I see our foolproof planning kicking us in the shin,” Senor Luigi rasped, a deep bass to his tone. He was tall and built, just like my father, but the difference was clear. He wasn’t aging every day; Papa was. “It was supposed to work out.”

“How did it go so wrong?” Papa asked.

Senor Luigi and Papa were Capos from different families, but each family was one under the Cosa Nostra. I wouldn’t call them friends, but they did business back in the day, and they still do, so long as one person had what he could benefit from the other. In this case, it was money and an increase in his prestige in the mafia community, but right now, neither party would be getting anything.

“Everything was fine until they weren’t,” he gruffed. “I was patiently waiting for the right time to strike. I did, and it worked until he interrupted.”

“Him.” He was responsible for all of this. If he had just shoved his placard up his throat, none of this would have happened. “Who was that?”

I watched through hooded eyes as something else seemed to catch the elder man’s attention. He kept quiet, suddenly hesitant to go on with his explanation.

“Luigi.” Papa coughed out his name as he rose to meet his friend. “Who was that man? Maybe we could strike a deal with him instead. We could throw in a million dollars extra if he agrees to help. I can’t sell off my Amore like this.”

“There’s no negotiating this one, I’m afraid.” I felt a chill snake up my spine. “There’s no way around it.”

“You can’t be so sure, Luigi.” Papa’s hand latched onto Luigi’s shoulder. “Just tell me so we can figure out what to do…”

“You can’t, nothing can be done,” he cut him off.

“You can’t say that. How are you so sure?” Papa’s desperation broke my heart. “We can just…”

“The person who bought your daughter was the Black Don!” Time seemed to slow to a standstill the moment the bombshell left his lips. I watched Papa’s hand fall limply to his side as he staggered back. I rushed at him instantly, trying to steady him. Papa stared at Luigi, daring him to confirm what he’d just said, and unfortunately, he did. A nod was all it took for a loud gasp to slip out of his dry mouth.

“No, no, no!” Papa shrieked. “No!”

“Lo siento, mi amigo,” Luigi let out. “I’m sorry, my friend. I only found out this morning.”

“It can’t be, he’s dead,” Papa let out in a gruff voice, his chest heaving and falling. “Dead.”

“Calm down, Papa.” I watched his eyes glaze over. “He’s dead. The Black Don is dead. There’s no way he would have won the auction. The dead do not come back to life.”

“Rumor has it that he didn’t really die.” I had no idea if it was intentional, but none of us needed to hear that piece of information at the moment. “Some say he was never dead. It was just a ploy to…”

“Senor Luigi!” I let out through gritted teeth. He snapped his mouth shut the moment he realized his mistake. “We would appreciate it if you didn’t…”

“I understand. My apologies senora.” He looked truly sorry as he adjusted his coat. “It wasn’t intentional. It could be a case of mistaken identities. I must have misheard, too. Just calm down, mate.”

“Yes.” Papa nodded. “Si, you probably made a mistake. That’s it.”

“Yes, and enough talk about all of this.” I took my father’s hand in mine. “Why don’t we have dinner? I’ll whip up your favorite. Senor Luigi, you can stay too. I won’t take a lot of time…”

Three knocks at the door cut me off. It was Leonardo with his two tiny feet and his unmeasurable enthusiasm for really mundane things.

“Letter for you, sis Isabella.” He held up a black envelope to me. Before I could ask the source, he was gone.

“What’s that?” Papa asked as I walked back to the duo. I brandished it in my palm and he nodded as a go-ahead to open it. The moment I did, I met an equally pitch-black piece of paper with an intricate golden rose drawn at the center.

“Dios mio!” Luigi screamed while Papa’s face ashened. “Back, back. Take it back.”

I held on to it, confused. He must have noticed my confusion because he added. “That’s the seal of the Black Don.”