"Elena, finally," the voice said, a mix of concern and satisfaction threading through the words. I could picture him in his study, the ember of his cigar glowing as he tapped ash with his thumbnail. Three precise strokes, never two, never four. "That man kept you hidden in the dark for five whole years. Five years. A man like that doesn't even deserve to see the light of day."
I didn't respond right away.
"When can you come back?" he continued, the tone shifting, becoming more urgent, more hopeful. "I just reached out to them. They're already asking to finalize the wedding date."
Five years.
Five years with Salvatore, and I was always the one tucked away, the one who couldn't exist in the open. No introductions, no acknowledgment, no place in his world that anyone else could see. I was convenient when he needed me, invisible when he didn't. In the Bellomo Family, I had been kept off every guest list, absent from every feast night and gala, a woman who existed only behind closed doors in a Don's private rooms.