The silence that follows is painful for the two older men seated to my right and left around the oval table.
Dante lifts his chin in visible disapproval.
“Today exists to compensate for the losses suffered by the De Luca and Sartori families,” Giacomo protests. “You give with one hand and take away with the other.”
He invokes Mia and Pietro and the crimes committed against us—the very crimes he helped uncover.
“I see. So you think I got married to fulfill an agreement made sixteen years ago?”
“If not for that, why would you have accepted Valentina?” Dante cuts in.
“Because I wanted to.”
That ends the matter.
“And because I wanted her, I would have taken her as my wife regardless of any agreement made behind my back.”
“But your father gave his word.”
“Exactly. Salvatore Vitale gav
