The Veto：My Mafia Family Faked My Mother's DeathChapter 2

I hang up on my attorney and drive back to the brownstone.

The study door's open. There's already paperwork laid out on the desk.

Dante. Luca. Rafe.

Our family attorney slides the folder across to me.

"Your mother made arrangements. Before she passed."

I look down.

Mom's piece of the businesses.

The buildings she put her name on.

Nonna's jewelry.

All of it, straight into a fund none of us have ever heard of.

One beneficiary. One name.

Nico Costa.

My hand freezes on the page.

"Who the hell is Nico Costa?"

I look up.

"Sienna's baby?"

Luca's jaw tightens. "Yeah."

I turn to Rafe.

"Why does he have your last name?"

Rafe clears his throat.

"Some piece of shit left her. The kid needs a father on the birth certificate."

I keep flipping.

Last page. A waiver.

I'm supposed to sign off that I won't contest.

I let out a laugh before I can stop it.

"When did Mom draw this up?"

Dad's face shifts, just a little.

"Last year."

"What month."

"Vivienne."

He drops his voice flat.

"Your mother's in the ground. You really gotta sit here and pick at this?"

I close the folder.

"Because she talked about these things while she was alive. Every one of them. Said they were mine. For my wedding day."

"She drops dead and suddenly they belong to Sienna's kid."

"How does that work."

Luca's on his feet before I finish.

"It works because Sienna needs it, Vivi!"

"You're a Marchetti. You're marrying into the Costas. What exactly do you lack?"

"She's got no mother, no father, and now a baby. Who the hell does she have?"

I push the folder away. There's a bitter smile working its way out of me.

"I'm not signing."

Dad's palm comes down on the desk.

"That is your mother's last wish!"

"You can't even give a dead woman that?"

A dead woman.

The wedding's postponed because my mother's dead.

Now they're walking my inheritance out the door with the same excuse.

I stand up.

"Then tell Mom to come down and ask me herself."

Four faces change at once.

I turn to leave.

Dante steps straight into the doorway.

"Vivi. Don't make us do this."

"Move."

He doesn't.

Luca reaches over and slides my phone out of my hand.

"You come out when you're thinking clearly."

I stare at them.

"You're locking me in?"

Luca, cold. "We're letting you breathe."

I reach for the phone.

He flips it across the room to Rafe.

"Watch her."

I look at the man who told me he would spend his life protecting me.

"Give it back."

Rafe's fingers close around my wrist. His jaw is set.

"Vivi."

"Just sign it."

Something inside my chest goes quiet.

"So you think I should give it up too."

He won't meet my eyes. His throat works around nothing.

"Baby, this stuff is extra for you. You know that. You've got everything."

"For Sienna and the kid, it's a safety net."

I look at him for a long time.

Then I smile.

"Okay."

I feel every one of them exhale.

Dad slides the pen back toward me.

Dante actually reaches over and pats the top of my head.

"That's our Vivi."

"You were always the good one."

I lower my head.

I sign my name, one letter at a time.