~VALENTINO’S POV~
The dead didn’t give a damn how grand their funeral was.
But the Romanos?
We buried our kings like saints, then sent them to hell in style.
Black silk suffocated the private chapel of Castello Romano, swallowing the walls, the windows, even the light. The air was heavy, thick enough to choke on, the cloying stench of lilies mixing with the sharper, metallic bite of gun oil.
Outside, umbrellas leaned against the weeping sky, a sea of black, interrupted only by the shine of gold cufflinks and the occasional flash of a hidden weapon tucked beneath a jacket.
Men in sharp black suits lined the pews, heads bowed low in a performance of respect, but the real emotion in the room was fouler.
Greed, hunger, and silent joy.
I stood at the front, knuckles bleached white where
