Gone for Ten Years, Gone Forever

For eight years Adriana Vitale has been bound to Lorenzo Bruno by a betrothal pact, and for the past year she has watched him dote on Sabina Greco while calling her nothing more than a little sister. The fighting drained her, and the night she decided to leave she sold his gifts, sold their safehouse, and destroyed the ten-million-dollar bridal silk she had never worn.

When Don Marchetti offers her a Council-sanctioned place bound by Omertà, a decade in deep cover with every thread to the outside cut, she accepts. She has a week to settle her affairs. Lorenzo never notices: he brings her a mango cake she is allergic to, and watches Sabina pose in the gown made for Adriana.

As the week closes, Lorenzo begins to sense the change in her and asks why she no longer gets angry. Adriana keeps her silence, and for the first time she is free.