Chapter 1
At my funeral, my husband would remove the Donna's ring from my hand and place it on his secretary's finger.
He would tell the Five Families that I had sold our port routes, sent twelve men to their deaths, and stolen the money meant for their widows.
Then he would stand beside my coffin, take her hand, and announce it to the room.
"From this day forward, Camilla Ferraro will be the new Donna of the Russo family."
He believed a dead woman could not answer him.
He had no idea I would be inside that coffin.
……
The night before our church wedding in front of the Five Families, my husband, Damian Russo, handed me a glass of champagne.
"You gave me ten years of your life. Thank you."
Damian and I had been legally married for three years, but we had kept it private. Tomorrow's ceremony would make our marriage public to the Five Families. It would also secure his place as Don and formally recognize me as the Russo family's Donna.
Ten years earlier, Damian had been a broke heir who could not hold the territory his father left him.
I brought him the Vitale ports, casinos, and five votes on the East Coast Commission. I paid his debts, removed his enemies, and helped put him where he stood today.
I had never doubted my husband.
I drank the champagne.
Ten minutes later, my vision blurred.
I caught the edge of the table.
"What did you put in my drink?"
Damian did not answer.
He caught me as I fell and lowered me onto the carpet in our bedroom.
Before I lost consciousness, the bathroom door opened.
His secretary, Camilla Ferraro, walked out wearing my red silk robe.
She crouched beside me and closed my eyes with her fingers.
"Good night, Serena."
My hearing returned first.
The mattress moved behind me in a steady rhythm.
My arms and legs were still numb. I could not speak or open my eyes.
Damian did not know that I had recently changed the medication I took for an old gunshot injury. It did not block the sedative. It only made the drug wear off sooner than he expected.
I kept my breathing even and pretended I was still unconscious.
"Can she hear us?" Camilla asked.
"It does not matter if she can."
Damian's voice came from only a few feet away.
"In an hour, she and her car will be at the bottom of the reservoir."
My chest tightened.
Camilla touched the black diamond necklace around her throat.
Only a Vitale heir had the right to wear it.
"Will I really become the Donna after she dies?"
"Yes, you will."
Paper shifted on the bed.
Damian had brought out a forged ledger.
He planned to tell everyone that I had sold our port routes to an enemy family, sent twelve Russo men into an ambush, and stolen the money meant for their widows before crashing into the reservoir while trying to run.
Once I was branded a traitor, the casinos, docks, and accounts I controlled in New Jersey would fall under the acting Don's authority.
"What about the men in the ambush?" Camilla asked.
"They were always supposed to die for the family."
Damian did not hesitate.
"Once all twelve are dead, we put the leak on Serena."
Tears ran into my hair. I did not wipe them away. I did not change my breathing.
They were planning my murder as calmly as they discussed business.
Camilla moved closer to him.
"Did you ever love her?"
The room went quiet.
Damian gave a quiet laugh.
"If she had not been a Vitale, I would never have married her."
"Every time I touched her, I felt I was closing a deal I hated."
For ten years, I had taken bullets for him, protected his family, and turned a dying crew into the strongest organization in New Jersey.
To him, I had never been more than ports, casinos, and votes.
Feeling slowly returned to my index finger.
I found the raised switch inside my ring and pressed it three times.
The Vitale emergency system saved the previous twenty minutes of audio and continued recording.
Half an hour later, Damian ordered his trusted enforcer, Lorenzo, to bind me inside an armored SUV and send it into an abandoned reservoir.
Cold water poured into the vehicle.
I used the thin blade hidden in my sleeve to cut through the restraints. The edge opened my wrists as I worked.
I struck the window four times with the emergency hammer before it cracked.
Water exploded into the cabin and slammed me back against the seat.
I forced myself through the broken window and swam toward the surface, but my strength failed a few feet from the top.
Before the darkness took me, I pressed the ring again.
I woke in the Vitale family's private clinic.
My cousin, Nico Vitale, stood beside the bed.
Nico was the Vitale consigliere. Since my mother's death, he was also the only person authorized to receive my emergency signal.
Two of my ribs were broken. Water remained in my lungs, and every breath pulled at the injuries.
Nico turned on the television.
Damian stood outside the Russo compound with red eyes.
"Serena betrayed the family and died when her car went into the reservoir while she was running with stolen money."
Camilla stood beside him in my black dress and my necklace, crying for the cameras.
They announced a closed-casket funeral in three days.
Nico waited until the doctor left.
"Do we release the recording now?"
I shook my head.
The audio proved they had planned this, but Damian could still bury the story, kill Lorenzo, and blame the murder on his men.
I needed him to tell every lie in front of the Five Families.
"Let the funeral happen."
I pushed myself upright through the pain.
"Let him call me a traitor. Let him put my ring on Camilla."
Nico's expression tightened.
"You want to get inside the empty coffin?"
"Yes, you will."
"Put me in it three days from now."
I watched my husband on the screen.
"After they finish celebrating in front of my picture, I will sit up."