After He Watched Me Drown, I Built My Empire novel · Chapter 1 of 24
Chapter 1: The Swim Test
Silvia is shoved into the lake by her boyfriend's best friend while he watches, pulled out by the patrol captain, and finally steps out of the Family; her passport is gone and the captain is waiting at the gate.
Forty cousins from the Brancato and Delmonte families stood on the dock while Cesare helped Fiora into the last two-seat kayak.
There was no seat left for me.
Fiora waved from the water.
"Go sit in the shade, Silvia. Someone will fetch you when we're done."
She was the Delmonte Don's daughter and a guest of our house, and Cesare, as the heir, had to look after her.
They paddled out to the middle of the lake, laughing.
I hung my life jacket on the rack and walked back along the dock by myself.
When they came in two hours later, each of them carried a lemon ice.
Fiora put a hand to her mouth. "You waited? We didn't think to get you one."
A bodyguard held a black umbrella over the two of them, and I followed in the full glare of the sun.
Halfway up the path, Cesare pressed his sunglasses into my hand, remembering at last whose girlfriend I was.
"Zipline next. Fiora hates heights, so I'm going beside her. You take the next run."
"You said today was for us."
"She's under Brancato protection." His voice dropped. "If anything happens to her on our watch, both families pay. Don't make this harder for me."
Something in me gave way.
I was tired of being the third person in my own relationship.
I took out my phone and booked a flight home for that afternoon.
The group chat for the retreat had filled up.
Cesare had posted ninety-three photos in a row.
All of them showed Cesare and Fiora, and I was in none of them.
Then Fiora tagged me.
"Silvia, you stood in the wrong spot in every shot and looked miserable, so we deleted yours. Look how good we look!"
She posted one more.
On her wrist was a silver bracelet stamped with the Brancato crest.
Every guest from an allied house got one, and it meant the Brancatos answered for her safety.
Cesare had clasped it on her himself.
I left the chat and walked toward the lot, and I heard them behind me.
"A hundred dollars says she's back to apologize before the gate."
"Take it."
"Done."
They were certain I would turn around.
In five weeks I would turn twenty-four.
Don Brancato had promised since I was nine that on that day he would put something of my father's in my hands.
Cesare always changed the subject when I asked what.
"Five weeks, right?" Fiora called, sweet as ever. "Your birthday. I marked it."
I flagged a resort car to pack at the cottage.
Only days remained to accept my place in an engineering exchange in Florence, where my mother lived.
Cesare caught up and took hold of my arm. "You're really going?"
Fiora hurried after him, frowning. "We were joking, Silvia. Everyone will say I drove you off."
Cesare patted the top of my head, and the two of them laughed at something only they knew.
I turned for the car, and Fiora slid her arm through mine.
"Let's do the swim test now, while the patrol boats are right there. Anyone not born into the Family has to show they can save themselves."
"She can't swim," Cesare said.
"The water's shallow." Fiora smiled at him. "You wouldn't say no to me, would you?"
Cesare looked at me, waiting for me to give in.
Before I could answer, they had walked me to the end of the dock, one on each arm.
Fiora shoved me in the back.
I had no life jacket on, because I had hung it up two hours before.
The lake closed over my head.
I opened my mouth to scream and swallowed water.
"You talk all day about standing beside the heir," Fiora called from above. "You can't even save yourself!"
Cesare stood next to her and watched, and he didn't reach.
"The patrol's close," he said. "Climb out yourself. I'm taking Fiora inside. She can't be near an accident on our water."
Then I understood that the look they had traded on the path had been a plan.
My arms went heavy, and I slid down.
Their backs, side by side, got smaller above me.
I thought I was going to die.
Then two hands closed under my arms and dragged me up into a boat.
The patrol captain, Remo Salerno, wrapped me in a blanket and put me ashore at the far dock without a word.
"Don't tell them I brought you in," he said, and pushed off.
At the restaurant a server handed me a folded note.
"You're slow, so we left. Walk back, it's good for you. Your phone and wallet are at the cottage."
I borrowed cab fare from the server and went to the cottage alone.
Fiora was leaning on Cesare's shoulder, the two of them playing a game on his phone.
The guards at the door saw my wet clothes and said nothing.
Cesare pointed at the table. "We kept your lunch."
It was a plate with two wing bones and a smear of sauce, Fiora's leftovers.
I went into my room, shaking with cold, and began to pack.
My passport was gone from the drawer.
An email on my phone said my flight had been cancelled at my request.
I hadn't made any request.
So I stepped out.
I went out the back door with my duffel, and no one on the couch looked up.
At the cottage gate a patrol truck sat idling.
Remo Salerno rolled down his window and held out my passport.
"It was in Fiora's beach bag," he said. "Get in. They aren't done with you."
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