01. The Funeral
Death is inevitable.
I see it now as Caleb’s casket descends into the ground, swallowed by an earth that doesn’t deserve him.
I used to think death was something that happened to other people—in other towns, in other families.
And then it came for mine.
Once it’s there, you can’t unsee it.
You can only accept that your time will come, too.
It’s inevitable.
Around me, three hundred people in designer black pretend to mourn. They’re not here for my brother. They’re here because my father demands an audience. He’s found a way to make my brother’s death about himself, another means to show off his power and wealth as the head of the Callahan Irish mafia.
My nails bite into my palms hard enough to draw blood. The pain grounds me, keeps me from screaming at every single person here who’s checking their Rolex instead of remembering that my brother had a smile that could light up entire rooms. That he loved classic cars and terrible dad jokes. That he was twenty-six and shouldn’t be in a fucking box.
“Sadie.” My father’s voice slices through the storm in my head.“Come with me.”
I stiffen. He doesn’t wait for a response, expecting me to just follow his command.
Like always.
I look at Caleb’s coffin one last time before stepping away, and we stop beside a white stone column.
“My only son is dead.”
His tone isn’t grief.
There’s no exhaustion from sleepless nights. No redness around his eyes like I carry.
Something hot and vicious crawls up my throat, and I cross my arms. “Caleb had a name.”
“Caleb had a responsibility.” He finally turns to me, and his eyes are chips of ice. “One he failed to uphold by getting himself killed.”
My breath catches. “He was your son.”
“He was my heir,” he snaps. “My bloodline. The one meant to carry the Callahan name forward. And now he’s gone because those Romano fuckers crossed a line.”
“You think the Romanos killed Caleb?”
“I don’t think,” he bites out. “I know.”
A chill slides down my spine. The Romanos are practically kings in this city. Untouchable. Untamed. Followed by the Reeds.
“What... what are you saying?” I manage.
He straightens his matte black Cucinelli jacket, all business, all steel. “You’re getting married.”
I freeze. For a second, I think I misheard. That grief has finally broken something in my brain, and I’m hallucinating. But my father is staring at me with absolute certainty, waiting for my acceptance like it’s already a done deal.
I’m... I just graduated from law school. The only thing left is to retake the bar. I have my whole life ahead of me, an entire law career. Married?!
“To who? Why?” I croak.
He pulls a silver cigarette case from his inner pocket, lighting one up. It takes everything in me not to pull it from his mouth and stomp it on the ground. “The Romano family is responsible for taking away my only heir. I know it. And now, you’re going to infiltrate them and find me proof.”
My heartbeat is in my ears, a war drum.
“Play the perfect wife. Get close enough to get some dirt on them.” He takes a drag, letting the gaudy smoke curl between us. “Saint Romano is looking for a bride. You’re going to audition.”
Saint Romano.
Even his name tastes like trouble.
Everyone in our world knows about Saint. The next heir to the Romano empire. Twenty-nine years old and already legendary for his cruelty. They say he once made a man eat his own fingers for stealing.
“Why me?” My knees practically wobble. “Jessica has experience with the mafia side of things. She knows how this works. Why can’t she—”
“Jessica is off-limits.” My father’s voice turns to permafrost. He spits on the ground like the idea is absurd. “It’s too dangerous.”
Of course.
Of course it’s too dangerous for Jessica.
My sister, the golden child. Daddy’s precious treasure.
She’s always been better at this than me. Better at being what my father wants. She’s the teacher’s pet who does any and everything daddy dearest wants, while I give him a hard time every step of the way.
Jessica joined the family business the day she turned eighteen. Learned to shoot, to negotiate, to smile while men twice her age looked at her like meat. She did it all willingly, eagerly, anything to make Richard Callahan proud.
And it worked.
While I went to college for law—useless, my father called it—she became his go-to. His confidante. The child he actually wanted.
I want to say no. Stomp away and give him a headache like I usually do.
But then I see Caleb in my mind.
Those lifeless eyes, frozen wide in that alley where they left him to rot like trash.
I’m the one who found him that night.
“I–”
“No!”
Mom’s voice slices through the air as she rushes up, eyes wild, face pale from crying. “Richard, I told you not to ask her this!”
My father’s expression darkens. “Elena.”
“She’s our daughter—”
“Elena. Quiet,” he snaps.
Two words. That’s all it takes.
My mother stops mid-sentence like he’s severed her vocal cords. Her mouth closes. Her eyes drop. She folds her hands in front of her and becomes a statue of obedience.
This is what wives do in our world. They obey. They submit. They swallow every word that might displease their husbands and smile while doing it.
And I don’t resent her for it.
I should. God knows I should. But behind my father’s back, she’s always made things even. If he bought Jessica a new car for her birthday, Mom would slip her credit card into my hand and tell me to go shopping. If he praised Jessica’s shooting accuracy, Mom would frame my paintings and hang them in her private study.
She loved me in the shadows because that’s the only place she was allowed to exist.
“Da...” I whisper, then clear my throat. “I’ll do it. Leave her alone, please.”
He nods, giving one last stern glance to my mother, then walks off.
“No, Sadie. You can’t.” She grabs hold of both my hands. “It’s too dangerous. You don’t know what those people are capable of. They—” Her breath shudders. “They’ll kill you, too.”
Her eyes plead with me, desperate, hollowed out. They used to shine when my brother was alive. He could walk into a room and make her laugh without even trying. But since his disappearance two months ago, before I finally found his body last week, that light has been gone. Snuffed out.
And I want fucking revenge for that.
All I can think is: if I don’t do this, she’ll never get that light back.
I have to try.
“I’m not afraid of them, ma.” It’s a blatant lie, but I put on my best act.
She shakes her head, new tears welling something fierce. “You’ll be walking into a cage and handing them the key, for Christ’s sake! Please.”
Behind Caleb, my mother is the closest to me. She and Jessica never got along, since Jessica clearly chose the side of my father. I know she thinks if I go, she’ll be losing another one.
“Maybe. But at least I’ll finally be close enough to know what really happened to Caleb.”
She winces at hearing his name, and the tension that follows is thick enough to choke on.
“I have to do this,” I whisper, more to myself than to her. “For him. For you.”
Her lips part like she’s going to argue again, but I don’t give her the chance. My decision is final.
I’ve got one shot at this. One chance to make those bastards pay for what they took from us. And if I succeed, maybe—maybe—I’ll see something other than death in my mother’s eyes.
Maybe that hollow, broken thing that used to be her smile will come back.
