Chapter 1 - THE WOMAN HE NEVER SAW
The private dining room glowed with candlelight and smelled of expensive wine, seared meat, and the white roses Silas had sent ahead. Carmela Romano sat beside her husband in a black velvet gown she had tried on four times that afternoon. Whenever a guest addressed them, Silas rested a hand on the back of her chair, playing the attentive husband without once turning toward her.
She had stopped expecting much from their third year of marriage. Still, when Silas leaned close to refill her glass, she caught herself hoping he might ask whether she wanted to leave early. Instead, he asked her to smile for a photograph with a city official whose name she had already forgotten.
After dessert, Carmela excused herself. In the restroom, she ran cold water over her wrists and studied her face beneath the amber lights. Her cheeks were flushed. A woman at the table had looked at Carmela’s gown, then exchanged a glance with the woman beside her. Carmela had seen enough of those glances to understand them without hearing a word.
She dried her hands and returned through the quiet hallway. Before she reached the dining room, she heard Khloe Sinclair laugh from the adjoining lounge. Khloe had been seen with Silas often enough that Carmela knew her voice. The door stood open an inch.
“I don’t know why you bring her,” Khloe said. “Everybody knows about us.”
Carmela stopped. Through the gap she could see Khloe perched on the edge of a cabinet, one hand resting on Silas’s sleeve. Tommy, Silas’s closest lieutenant, stood near the window with a drink.
“She’s his wife,” Tommy said. “People expect to see her.”
Khloe made a small sound of disgust. “He could have picked somebody who doesn’t embarrass him.”
Carmela waited for Silas to object. He set down his glass. His voice, when it came, was relaxed.
“I didn’t marry her to impress you.”
“Then why?”
“Vincent Costello’s ports. Carmela kept her father comfortable with the alliance, and I got access to the docks.” Silas gave a short laugh. “She’s a shield, Khloe. A useful one.”
“And when Vincent’s gone?” Tommy asked.
“I keep the ports.” Silas paused. “She’ll still be useful in photographs. People like a man who stands by a wife like her.”
Carmela’s hand remained on the brass door handle. She felt the raised pattern beneath her fingertips and heard Khloe laugh again. She had spent months wondering what she could change about herself to make Silas look at her the way he once had. Nothing she changed would alter the arrangement he had just described.
She walked toward the service exit. The kitchen staff moved around her carrying trays, too busy to notice her face. Outside, rain struck the awning and ran into the gutter in silver streams. Carmela stepped onto the sidewalk without calling for the car.
Her phone vibrated before she reached the corner. Silas had sent a message: Where are you? We’re about to take another picture.
She put the phone back into her handbag. At home, she would have to decide how to face him. Tonight she needed a few minutes in which nobody expected her to smile.
A second message arrived, this one from her father.
Come see me tomorrow. Alone. There’s something about the ports you need to know.
Carmela stared at the screen while a taxi slowed beside the curb. Vincent had never discussed his business with her unless he wanted help reading a contract. Had he begun to suspect Silas—or had he known all along?
May you like
She raised her hand for the cab. As she reached for its door, Silas’s car pulled up behind it, and Tommy stepped out into the rain.
“Mrs. Romano,” he called. “Your husband wants you back inside.”
