Sophia's POV
My heart nearly stopped when I saw Vito positioned just close enough to the library entrance to have overheard everything. How long had he been there? How much had he heard?
Please, God, let him have only caught the end of it.
The blood oath I'd just sworn felt like a weight pressing down on my chest, each word echoing in my memory with terrifying clarity. Death to those who break faith with the family. If Vito had heard my father call me by my real name, if he suspected even for a moment that I wasn't who I claimed to be...
The photographs from the ceremony flashed through my mind—bodies in the river, tongues cut out, families who'd disappeared overnight. The Romano family didn't just punish betrayal; they erased it completely, along with anyone who'd facilitated it.
My
