She Didn't Know the Body Was Mine

When an attacker threw acid at my face, Mom was attending my cousin Celeste's family induction ceremony.

But that day was my eighteenth birthday too.

As I lay dying, I used the last of my strength to send her a voice message.

[Mom, help me... I'm on the West Side. Someone is trying to kill me.]

Her reply came almost immediately.

[Stop using these tricks to compete with Celeste for attention, Emilia. I know exactly what you're like.]

That same night, the Don summoned Mom back to the Romano estate to investigate an unidentified body found on family territory.

The victim's face had been destroyed. Chemicals had eaten away the fingerprints on both hands.

Mom led the security team through three days and nights of investigation. From the evidence, she concluded that the victim had been tortured for hours and had died fighting, terrified and utterly without hope.

She cursed the killer's cruelty and swore she would make him pay.

But she never recognized the body lying in front of her as the biological daughter she hated to mention.

Me.