Page 38 of Righteous Deceit

If she's right, and Diego wants to make me feel protected, this situation just got a whole lot more complicated.

“Alessia,” Caterina calls loud enough to tell me it’s not the first time she’s said my name in the last few seconds.

“Hm?”

“You don’t tell him, do you?”

I frown. “Tell who what?”

She massages her hands awkwardly in her lap, avoiding eye contact. “Salvatore,” she clarifies. “You don’t tell him about our conversations, do you?”

I shake my head. “Of course not.” It’s the truth. I would never betray her confidence in that way. “Our friendship is important to me, Cat. If Salvatore has questions, I would tell him to ask you directly.”

She nods. “I don’t want to be used as a pawn here. If Chicago is going to be my home, I want it tofeellike home. I don’t want to feel like betraying my family.” She looks at me directly. “This one or New York.”

“Your secrets are always safe with me. I won’t ever ask you to betray the people you hold close.”

Caterina looks at me as though I’ve grown a second head. “I don’t have any secrets.”

“Everyone has secrets,” I argue.

She shakes her head. “Not me. Alessia, you, of all people, should know that skeletons don’t belong in our closets, not in our world.”

“Secrets rarely belong,” I reply. “That’s why they’re secrets.”

“Hiding things in our world will only cause death and heartache.”

“Some things are best left hidden, though.”

Her eyes turn sad. “That’s it, though,” she stresses. “Something that is best kept hidden for you is the key to success for another. Secrets will always find a way to reveal themselves. That’s why I refuse ever to let a secret claim me. In the end, they own you. As a boss—”

“I’m not a boss.”

She snorts. “Alessia, you areconsiglierato the mostpowerfulfamily in Chicago, to one of the most powerful families in the country. You’re a boss, and you should own that. Women don’t hold positions of authority in Cosa Nostra. You’re an inspiration to us all.”

Warmth and pride spread through my chest.

“But, being so powerful, you have enemies. One, because of your position. Two, because you’re a woman. The men in our world want to see you fall. If you have secrets that could destroy everything you’ve built, Alessia, you must find a way to bury them forever.”

My vision blurs, and the room begins to spin.

Caterina has forced my greatest fear into my line of sight. I sat on mine and Salvatore’s sovereignty, confident our crown was impenetrable. Only two people outside me and my brother know the truth—our mother and CJ.

My mother fears her son’s wrath. She loves and respects him, as she was taught to do. He is a male and, therefore, her superior.

CJ reaps more benefits from our connection than we do from him. It’s in his best interest to keep the status quo. He wouldn’t breathe the truth to another soul. One, he knows he’d be a dead man. Two, he’s my friend, and I trust him.

Diego is a wildcard. An unknown that may or may not have discovered our secret. The crown I was certain was impenetrable could already lay broken at my feet, and if that’s the case, I’m a dead woman walking. Even if I take full responsibility for our lies, Salvatore’s reign will be questioned. Everything the world knows about him would be upturned, and I can’t be sure he’d live long enough to fight for his crown.

CHAPTERNINE

ALESSIA

age seventeen

Icall Lucy for the eighteenth time in a row, but like the last seventeen attempts, her voicemail picks up before it can ring. Her phone is off, and a silent scream of panic echoes through my ears.

“Fuck, Lucy. What have you done?”

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