Nero: Made Men novel · Chapter 12 of 24

Chapter 12: The Table

The back hall of Bellandi's held thirty men and a hundred candles.

Long tables ran down both walls, and between them a bare floor had been swept clean.

At the far end, under a painting of a saint, Don Aldo sat in a carved chair with his hands folded.

I sat in the front row, seat four, in the black silk dress.

Nobody had spoken to me since I walked in.

Every man in the room had looked at me once, and then not again.

Sal Ferraro stood at the Don's right shoulder.

He caught my eye and smiled.

Nero stood alone in the center of the floor in a black suit with a white shirt.

He had not looked at me since the door closed.

I understood why.

If he looked, he wouldn't be able to stand there.

"Nero Bellandi," Aldo said.

His voice carried to the walls without effort.

"Step forward."

Nero stepped forward.

A man handed the Don a small paper card with a saint on it.

Aldo pricked Nero's finger with a pin.

A bead of blood welled up, bright in the candlelight, and Nero pressed it to the saint's face.

The Don struck a match and set the card in Nero's palm.

It burned.

Nero held it without a flinch, while the flame crawled across his scarred knuckles.

"As this saint burns," Aldo said, "so may I burn if I betray the family."

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