On the first day of our marriage, I secured the franchise.
To repay Elena's trust, I threw myself into the work with even more drive than I'd had at the Castellano compound.
She told me that every cent the operation earned would be recorded under my name.
"Could it be that you actually like me?"
I was genuinely curious.
She only smiled and said nothing.
Elena was a daughter who had never been favored by the inner circle.
But I would make sure every woman in Kingsport envied mine.
Before long, Elena's estate, once half in ruins, had a brand-new two-story wing rising above its walls. The front gate had a proper guard rotation. The driveway held three new cars where before there had been one.
Things at the Castellano compound, however, had taken a different turn.
Emilio declared that the stench of commerce would no longer be allowed to corrupt anyone's spirit.
Every associate's monthly cut was slashed to almost nothing.
Only without the temptation of money, he reasoned, could people stop obsessing over profit.
Only then could they preserve their noble integrity.
My portrait was even turned into a cautionary display.