Page 1 of Forgive Me, Father

ONE

CAMILLA SANTORE AKA THE LITTLE RUNAWAY

Outside,the Californian coast lay shrouded in a sharp chill, the ocean wind rattling windowpanes like distant sleigh bells.But inside, on Christmas Eve, the only night we could get married, the world softened.

I stood in front of the mirror checking out my dress and trying to focus only on my dress.

Delicate straps kissed my shoulders like a whisper of silk against skin.The woven fabric flowed with quiet elegance, cinching softly at my waist before cascading outward in a graceful flare just below my hips.Every stitch seemed to know me, where to cling, where to release, sculpting me into something ethereal.

My breath caught, heart stammering in my chest like a startled bird, wondering what Philip would see as I walked toward him.I reached for the long-sleeved jacket draped over the arm of the single velvet chair in my dressing room.The delicate piece transformed the sleek trumpet silhouette into something out of a fairy tale.

I slid my arms through the lace sleeves.Then turned to the mirror once more.

Philip.

I tensed up sometimes when I thought about him.

He was half-and-half, cut right down the middle: fifty percent so serious that you were afraid to simply look at him wrong, and fifty percent playful, like he could make you laugh until your tummy hurt.

He’d already killed a few who didn’t honor the code of the Dons.A code we all tried to live by, as our mothers and fathers raised us, honoring them on a daily basis.

1.Loyalty above all.Loyalty to family, to the Dons.

2.Silence is golden.We never cooperate with the law, outsiders, or anyone who isn’t part of the Dons.

3.Respect for the Elders.They’ve been here the longest, know the best, and their word is practically law.

4.Respect Territory and Boundaries.Every family has one; violating them could cause a war.

5.Honor the dead.

6.No one leaves.Once in, you’re in it for life.

7.Your word is your bond.Honor all deals and transactions.

8.Women and children are to be protected.

9.Respect the code of Silence.

The last one, it’s not a rule, it’s sacred, part of the air we breathed.

Breaking any of the nine is seen as betrayal, the ultimate sin that comes with a list of ways to punish.

It’s hectic, but it’s my world.A world filled with dos and don’ts.If you broke them, you could lose your life, but if you followed them, the rewards were big.

The women and men each had more lists below the rules that shaped us, who we’d become, preparing us for the role in “the family.”

Rules like women were not seen just as daughters but as negotiation tools to merge families together, creating new bloodlines that would be stronger, more powerful.

Marrying Philip was a duty; it was arranged, put down in the slates since I was ten years old.

Lucky for me, we grew up together.He was my brother, Milo’s best friend and always slipped in and out of our lives like he belonged there.

It wasn’t hard for us to become friends, and from there, something deeper quietly took root.I thanked God every day that I actually loved my fiancé and couldn’t wait to marry him.

With our marriage, the Santore and DaCosta families would become one, bringing the docks, the DaCosta empire, and the distribution network, the Santore empire, under a single roof.

The same would happen to my sister, Emily, when she married Gustaf Davini.The Divini’s empire comprised entertainment businesses in the form of gambling houses and a string of strip clubs.And Milo, my brother, to Donatella Moretti, whose family rules the security side of it all.They were all fronts for illegal operations, but that was our lives.

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