Chapter 18: The Deed

Mara's POV

The notary's daughter, the one Benny had been holding, reached the church hall at dawn.

She was twenty-four, in a coat over her pajamas, with Teo's men standing behind her at a respectful distance.

"They said you'd keep me safe," she said.

"I will," I said. "Sit. Eat."

I sat her in the church hall with a plate of eggs and the gray-haired widow, and I told no one else where she was.

At noon I walked into the brownstone on East 72nd.

I had lived in that house for six years.

I walked in through the front door like a guest.

The dining room table was set for twelve.

Twelve capos sat along its length, big men in dark suits with their hands on their knees.

Fausto sat at my old place with a bandage over his eye.

Teo stood at the head of the table and did not sit.

"Mrs. Landolfi," said the oldest capo.

"Bellandi," I said. "It's Bellandi."

The capo frowned and said nothing.

Teo set a leather folder on the table.

"Before the second sitting," he said, "I want you all to hear this from me."

Nobody moved.

"I stood on a corner on Mulberry Street eight years ago. Benny Tosca killed Aldo Bellandi. I did nothing."

"We know this, Boss," the capo said. "You told the Commission."

"I'm telling you the rest."

He opened the folder.

"The East Side has been in my name for eight years. This morning I signed every property, every account and every contract over to Mara Bellandi."

The room made a sound.

It was not a gasp. It was twelve men breathing in at once.

"Boss," said a capo near the end. "You can't."

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