Chapter 8

One month later, the Mafia Commission met in New York to review a North Harbor shipping deal. I returned to the main table as the new head of the Moretti family. Dominic sat across from me as the Valenti representative.

The Valenti family submitted a new route that required guarantees from three established families. Similar proposals had passed in the past, but the older Dons returned the papers without approval.

"The risk is too high," said the senior Don on the Commission. He had been one of the first men to recognize Dominic's position years earlier. Dominic frowned at him and said the Commission had approved the same plan the previous year.

The older man answered, "Last year, Isabella was still standing behind you." The room became quiet. Dominic insisted that Valenti business had nothing to do with his marriage.

"You still do not understand," the older Don said. "We worked with you because Isabella Moretti chose you. She put her name and her family's standing behind your decisions. That made us believe you were worth the risk."

Dominic's hand stopped over his pen. When he was young, he had been the least favored Valenti heir. I had brought him to the New York negotiation table and helped him gain access to banks and ports. After he became Don, he began to believe those victories belonged to him alone. I stepped back into the home and became the wife who supposedly did not understand his work.

Now the Commission was telling him that half of his greatest strength had always been mine. I did not defend him. In the past, I had answered every challenge made against Dominic. That day, I turned to the next document.

During the break, Helena entered from the private lounge. Dominic had brought her to New York but had kept her outside the meeting. She took his arm and asked when he would announce their marriage because the baby could not remain outside the Valenti succession forever.

Dominic told her that a Commission meeting was not the place for a private discussion. Helena reminded him that he said that every time. She had taken all the blame and still did not have a real place beside him.

Before the pregnancy, Helena had known when to stay quiet and claim she wanted nothing. After she moved into the estate, she wanted his name, a position, and proof that she had defeated me.

Dominic pulled her aside. I heard Helena say, "I am not Isabella. I will not stand behind you forever and ask for nothing." He stopped speaking and looked across the room at me.

Shame entered his face. Helena wanted everything the title Don Valenti could give her. I had possessed more than that before I married him.

After the meeting, a young heir passed Dominic and quietly told a companion that he was Don Moretti's former husband. He realized Dominic had heard him and apologized at once. Dominic did not become angry. He remained in his chair and watched me leave.

He had spent twelve years teaching people to forget my name. Now his own name was being reduced to his connection with mine.