Reborn as the Mafia King's Wife novel · Chapter 24 of 24
Chapter 24: Sunday Dinner
I let myself into Ada's house on Sunday with my own key.
The brass one he had left on my pillow sat in my other pocket.
I had felt its weight all the way up the drive.
The dining room was full.
Ada had invited every elder who had stood in that hall.
The oldest one was there too, at the far end, with a pale band of skin where his gold ring used to be.
"I wanted him to eat what he nearly cost me," Ada told me at the door.
She kissed both my cheeks and pinched one of them hard.
"You look like you slept badly."
"I slept fine."
"In a bed that size? I saw it. I've seen bigger coffins."
Matteo stood at the head of the table in a charcoal suit with no tie.
He didn't come to me.
He watched me cross the whole room to him, and everyone at that table watched him do it.
The chair beside his was empty.
It had been empty since the night I walked out of the hall.
The young guard from the courtyard pulled it out for me.
I put my hand on its back.
"A moment," the oldest elder said.
The table went quiet.
He folded his hands, and the bare finger showed.
"A wife who leaves her husband's house sits where she's put," he said. "Not at his right hand. Not until the family decides."
Every head turned to Matteo.
Matteo didn't move.
"Don't look at me," he said. "He spoke to her."
So I looked at the old man myself.
"In my first life," I said, "you carried my husband's coffin."
He went still.
"You wore that ring and a suit Carlo paid for."
"And when they lowered him, you put your hand on Carlo's shoulder and called him son."
"You can't know that."
"I know you took the ring off in front of fifty people because you were afraid of losing the finger."
Somebody down the table coughed into a napkin to hide a laugh.
"Ada seats this table," I said. "Sit where she puts you, or leave the way Carlo left."
The old man looked to Ada.
Ada smiled at him with all her teeth.
"The foot of the table, dear. Next to the kitchen door. The cook will keep an eye on you."
He got up.
He carried his own plate down the whole length of the room while the family watched.
I sat in the chair beside my husband.
Matteo's hand closed over my knee under the table and stayed there through two courses.
When the plates were cleared, he stood and tapped his glass.
He didn't make a speech.
"Anyone who puts a hand on my wife answers to me," he said. "Anyone who puts a hand on what she builds answers to her."
The rest of this chapter is part of the paid portion of the series. Chapters 1–12 of Reborn as the Mafia King's Wife are free to read — start from the beginning, then unlock the rest with coins in the app.
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