The Woman with the Ring (Costa Family)

“Crazy. You’re going to stay the fuck away from them,” Primo told me, tone serious.

“Are all the Costa women as pretty as you?” Vissi asked, clearly the playboy type.

“No. They’re all hideously unattractive, covered in warts, buck-toothed, with glandular conditions and terrible hygiene.”

“Aw, come on, sweetheart, you don’t want to introduce me to your sisters or cousins?”

“I wouldn’t let another one of you touch another one of us with a ten-foot pole,” I told him.

“Oh, we’re not all as bad as the boss man here,” Vissi insisted.

“No, you’re right. Dawson and Dulles aren’t so bad,” I said, getting a charming smile out of Vissi.

“How long have you two been married?”

“Forever,” I grumbled at the same time Primo told him about three days.

“Well, happy nuptials,” Vissi declared, pressing a hand to his heart. “Even though I am quite put out that you didn’t have me as the best man. I expect to be the kids’ godfather when the time comes.”

“Don’t hold your breath on that one,” I said, pretending not to notice the way Primo’s gaze looked down at me with that damn brow raised again.

I knew the deal I made.

I wasn’t going to go back on it.

Not because of him per se, but because I’d always wanted to be a mother. And this was now going to be my only way.

I figured when I was mentally and emotionally ready, I would track my fertility for a while, get damn near blackout drunk, and let him get the job done.

Not romantic, no, but that was the only way it was going to happen.

And I was just going to completely ignore the strange little flutter between my thighs at the idea of him above me, inside me.

That was just my tiredness and hunger signals getting misdirected or something.

That was the only logical explanation.

“I just came down for food,” I admitted. “I haven’t eaten,” I added. “I just want to grab a plate and go back upstairs before anyone else makes fun of me.”

“No one will make fun of you,” Primo said, voice fierce.

“My entire existence here is you making fun of me,” I reminded him.

Something about my words must have caught him off-guard because his arm loosened just enough for me to be able to slip away. And slip I did. Then I rushed to the kitchen, scooped various things onto a plate without really paying attention to what I was doing, then made my way across the space with my head down, not even caring that I looked like a coward. It wasn’t like I was going to have a great reputation with any of these people to begin with.

I’d just gotten back to the room to sit on the bed when there was a tap at the door. And there was Vissi.

“I wasn’t making fun of you,” he told me, coming in with a bottle of water. “I want to make that clear. I was caught off-guard. Primo is my best friend. He didn’t share shit about this with me.”

“You should have better friends,” I said, accepting the bottle when he handed it to me.

He retreated back to the door which he opened, then stood in the doorway of. “He seems worse at first than he is.”

“He was willing to force a woman to marry him to end conflict instead of coming to a business agreement.”

“I’m not saying the man isn’t part neanderthal,” Vissi said, getting a small laugh out of me. “I’m saying he didn’t do this to make fun of you or to embarrass or shame you in any way. That’s not who he is. For whatever reason, he truly believed this was the best solution to the situation. I understand that you might not believe yet that he is a good man, but he is.”

“Good men don’t kidnap women. Period. There’s no way around that.”

“Okay,” Vissi said, taking a deep breath, then sighing it out. “I get it. I just wanted to throw my two cents in. I really do hope you can come to find some sort of happiness in this new life. It’s not just Dawson and Dulles who aren’t bad.”

With that, he was gone, and I was left alone to mull over what he’d said.

I mean, from the outside, I imagined the Esposito Family viewed the Costas in a similar way that we viewed them. When each side wanted different things or operated in different ways, it was easy to villainize them. Especially their leaders.

Which meant it was possible that Primo wasn’t the awful person that I’d been told he was. Clearly, his Family and friends loved and respected him.

I mean, I had witnessed the man nearly beat a stranger to death over a relatively small indiscretion.

And then there was the whole kidnapping and forced marriage thing.

He wasn’t a good guy.

But perhaps he wasn’t an altogether bad man, either.