Page 105 of Broken Crown

"Foolish girl. He thought he had killed her. He assumed she'd be too ashamed to tell anyone about the baby, so before she started to show, he hired a rival mafia nobody to kill her."

She pointed her finger at me. "What he didn't count on was your mother standing up for herself. There was no shame. She marched herself to her grandfather and told him everything."

My lungs constricted until I struggled for air.

So it turned out she was far from being a woman scared of life. She was a badass who'd fought for my life. And I was the ungrateful daughter who'd been lying to her for weeks.

"I don't understand. From what I've learned, the Badalamenti had money and power. Why did my mother have to flee?"

"Her grandfather gave her a choice. Stay in Italy, and we will make him marry you. Or we let him think you are dead, and we send you to New York. You see, the judge had to think she was dead, or he never would have stopped trying to kill her. If the secret of what he'd done ever got out, well, let me tell you, he wouldn't now be vying for the position of President of the Constitutional Court of Italy, that is for sure."

"I'm sorry, but I still don't see what that has to do with the House of Diamanti."

She stormed up to me and tapped her finger against my forehead. "Think, stupid girl."

She waved her hands in the air. "Like I said, your father, he is a pig. He is corrupt. So when he decides it is time to be President of the Court, he needs to clean up some loose ends from his past. Part of that involved some Sicilian whore and her sister. Your father seems to have a type.”

It took all the discipline I possessed not to defend my mother’s honor. I knew it wouldn’t make a bit of difference to Filomena. Worse, it might possibly stop her from talking. This was the most information I’d learned since coming to Italy.

She pressed her hand to her chest. "Against my advice, my son Sebastian got involved, and I'm not sure of all the details, but he messed with the judge's plans. So the judge has now come after the House of Diamanti for revenge. Or at least that is what Sebastian is assuming, but he is wrong. The judge is not his only enemy attacking at our doors.”

She made it sound as if they were defending a castle from marauding armies.

Filomena grimaced as she lit a third cigarette. The lighter flared, casting her face in demonic light for a moment.

"So I guess you were right in one thing. There can be consequences when it comes to the Diamantis, but not as the judge planned. That is where you come in."

The revelation crashed over me in waves, each one more devastating than the last.

Sebastian must have found out I was the judge's unknown daughter and had been using me to keep my father at bay.

My father must have gotten tired of having me held over him, so he took the risk of trying to kill me.

If he had succeeded, it would have been brushed off as the death of a female foreigner.

Problem solved.

Sebastian would lose his leverage over the judge.

But that wouldn't be the case if I were married to Sebastian…if I were a Diamanti…

Oh God.

Every touch, every kiss, every whispered promise had been a lie.

His declaration of love—a calculated move in a game I barely knew I was playing.

Or closer to the truth, I’d been playing fucking checkers, and he had been playing 3D chess.

Sebastian had never wanted me.

He'd wanted a weapon against my father.

And I had given myself to him, body and soul.

I pressed my hand against my mouth to hold back the scream that threatened to tear from my throat.

She stubbed out her cigarette. "Now she gets it."