ella

ble seemed to echo in the suffocating silence of the

my words pierced thro

snatching the ledger and the brass keys from the table. She tried to shove them back into my chest. "You are a Riggs wife! Your

om Carlene's trembling fingers, hitting the floor with a p

n't raise my voice. I

anced at Angelo. A muscle feathered in his jaw, his face flushed with profound embarrassment. Even Cecelia shifted uncom

them from ruin with a million-dollar dowry," I said, my voice a low, lethal whisper

next words, her face t

r like a cornered wildcat. The prospect of losing her e

Who do you think you are? At least Cecelia's father is a Capo! She has real hon

brother is going to throw you out like the trash you are

lo didn't intervene to stop his sister; he

would have cried at t

isian silk of her dress-the one I had paid for last month. I looked at the diam

ffen in their seats. "I am just a merchant's daughter. So, since you despise my common money s

breath h

slicing through the room like a blade. "Tak

who suddenly looked very small

n your knees and beg your honorable Sister Cecelia to dress you. Let us

hed a deep, ugly plum, her whole body trembling with a rage she was en

but the pathetic reality of their greed. I stood amidst the wreckage o