He Faked Death, I Married The Don

on the cold marble of my husb

ates was a man who looked exac

But a wife knows the slope of a man's should

en blown up in a car

teal his brother's rank, hi

a photograph goodnight. We lived in a damp, peeling

n, driving cars that cost more than my

onthly "pension" money, pretending to be Uncle Matteo,

te peeled the boy's small arms off his expens

at," he snapped.

chose another woman's comfo

hand and walke

othing!" Dante shouted after

straight to the black

ng Salvatore Vitiello. The Don.

lena," he

d onto the leather seat n

and in the dust, I realized I had

regret it f

pte

na

white lilies on the cold marble, when I saw the ghost of my dead husba

rain fractured be

ar bomb three years ago. The man striding toward t

was the lie desi

way he favors his left leg when it rains. She knows the speci

at cost more than the apartment

ery skin for three years, suddenly felt like a costume I had be

eo, to kiss a photograph goodnight. Three years of silence, of O

at the grave

e was

he headstone, leavin

ory. The walls were thin, peeling with layers of cheap paint that smelled like damp

ng wheel across the linoleum. He looked up, his eyes so dark

Matteo coming

ike ash in my mou

oice hollow. "He is comi

e. He brought cash. Blood money. Pension money. He claimed

rattled

ened

perfectly, his hair slicked back, a gold watch glintin

ut a thic

Elena. For

tle rougher. The voice of Matteo, the Capo who had died of an overdose

My fingers brushed hi

en are

r, hugging

outed, forgett

ll arms off his expensive trousers l

his tone sharp. "I am your Uncle. Yo

back, con

there. Only annoyance. He wasn't looking

he said, smoothing his jacket.

woman he was protecting. T

ned to

e," I

to me. For a second

sked, not tu

ot to ask

n. He just op

ething nice, Elen

g the door on the tom

watched him get into the

dling. It had been there for weeks

who was

Vitiello

n who controlled the air we breathed. H

heart. But as I watched my husband drive away with another wom

et you live, just so th