"From this day forward, everything in this estate falls under your authority."
Rosalia helped Emilio to his feet with her own hands.
"The money, the staff, the land, and every business venture. All of it goes to Emilio."
Everything I had built.
One sentence from the Don's eldest daughter, and it all belonged to Emilio Ferraro.
I dropped to my knees.
"I'm asking for a severance. A clean dissolution."
Rosalia stiffened.
She was about to speak, but Emilio tugged gently at her sleeve.
"If my brother stays any longer, he'll only taint the dignity of your household. Better to grant him what he asks."
Rosalia swallowed whatever she'd been about to say.
"Granted."
When I walked out of the Castellano compound with the dissolution papers in hand, the men loitering outside the social club on the corner all stopped to stare.
Some speculated about what I'd done wrong.
Others said I deserved it.
That my head was full of nothing but money, nothing like my brother and his lofty principles.
I ignored every last one of them.
The truth was, marrying into the Castellano family had never been entirely about honoring my brother's arrangement.
As the Don's eldest daughter, Rosalia could secure a Commission-backed franchise with almost no effort.
With that franchise, I could move shipments as far as the European ports and no one would interfere.
Now that Rosalia had cast me aside, the franchise was gone with her.
My gaze drifted toward another estate on the west side of Kingsport.
The younger Castellano daughter. Rosalia's sister.
In truth, she was the one I'd been meant to marry in the first place.
My brother and I had each been matched to one of the two Castellano daughters.
But Emilio ran off on his own, and to save face with Rosalia, who held the greater standing within the family, the Ferraros had no choice but to send me in his place.
In the year since, Elena Castellano had remained unmarried.
The door opened, and I looked at her.
"Elena. The old arrangement between our families. Does it still stand?"
I had prepared myself.
If she refused,
I would bow and leave without another word.
After all, it was the Ferraro family that had slighted her first.
Elena studied me for a long time.
"It stands."
On the first day of our marriage, I secured the franchise.
To repay Elena's trust, I threw myself into the work with even more drive than I'd had at the Castellano compound.