The Girl Who Drowned Me Forgot I Kept Her Secrets

My sworn sister wanted to play the pretty, clueless little thing who accidentally spills a drink just to catch the eye of the outfit's new acting boss.

I knew better. Real life isn't like the whispers that run through the neighborhood or those stories they tell about a Don falling for a nobody. So I tried hard to talk her out of it.

She hesitated, but in the end, she finally gave up the idea.

Then, like something out of a story someone else got to live, a low associate spilled a drink on the man, and actually ended up wearing his ring.

My sworn sister smiled and offered her blessings to their faces, but underneath it, she laid every ounce of blame at my feet.

During a trip to the coast, she shoved me off the rocks into the black water, her face twisted, screaming, "If it wasn't for you meddling, I'd be the boss's wife by now, you damn bitch!"

The next thing I knew, I woke up. Back to the night she first told me about her grand plan.

I looked at her eyes glittering with delusion, her hands clutching mine.

I gently pulled away, smiled faintly, and gave her the words she wanted. "Go for it."

This time, I wasn't getting in her way.

Let's see if you really have what it takes to marry into the bloodline.

"Adriana, the new acting boss is unmarried! Every woman in the outfit is losing her head over him.

"I've been listening to all the old stories lately. They all say men like him fall for the sweet, clueless type. I'm pretty, I'm soft-spoken, and I've got the right way about me. Should I go for it?"

Her familiar voice pulled me out of the fog. I was still shaking off the feeling of water closing over my head.

"Adriana, I'm talking to you!" she snapped, impatient.

That was when it hit me. I've been given it back. All of it.

I was back to the very night Carmela Rizzo told me she meant to "accidentally" spill a drink on their new acting boss.

Her cheeks were flushed, already lost in her daydreams.

Looking at her, I remembered everything from the life before.

The new man who'd taken the seat at the top of the Blanco outfit was young, holding more money than she'd ever counted, and handsome. After too many of those romantic tales, she was obsessed.

She was set on playing the clumsy beauty and staging her little accident.

As someone who spent her days quietly setting down the truth of how this world really worked, I knew how far the stories sat from the way things went.

I tried hard to talk her out of it. In the end she dropped it and kept her head down.

But then a low associate spilled a drink on him.

Next thing any of us knew, the union was announced in front of the whole Family.

Carmela pretended to be glad for them, but underneath she was furious, grinding her teeth in silence.

And all that resentment? She threw it at me, the one who'd only tried to protect her.

And in the end, that psycho held me under the water until I stopped moving.

Now that I'm back, I see her for exactly what my sworn sister always was.

I watched her turn this way and that in front of the mirror like she was posing for someone, and I couldn't help the cold laugh that stayed inside me.

"You're gorgeous," I said, smiling. "You'll pull it off, no question."

"I know. I'm the prettiest one in the whole outfit. Those old hags can't touch me. I just have to use my head a little..."

My words clearly fed something in her.

"Oh, right. I'm going shopping tomorrow. Come with me. And you should buy yourself something decent for once. Stop walking around in those rags. Try to look like you belong somewhere, would you?"

She took one last look at herself in the mirror, then turned to me, her voice dripping with that easy sense of being owed.

"Use your card first. I'll pay you back when the money comes in."

She dropped her clothes on my bed and walked into the bathroom, bare as the day she was born.

The moment she was out of sight, my face went cold.

Same as last time.

Even though she pulled in more than ten thousand a month, it was never enough.

Every time we went out, I was the one who paid.

And every time she'd say, "I'll pay you back once the money comes in."

Not once did she ever pay me back.

I used to believe she was my sworn sister, blood of my own neighborhood.

I told myself, it's only money. Who cares. I earn more from my own work anyway.

What I didn't see was that I was the one feeding it.

And she'd grown fat on it. Any time we stepped out, she simply assumed I'd cover it all.

Dio, I even paid for the gifts she gave that little brother of hers.

Remembering it now, I genuinely wanted to reach back into the life before and slap the Adriana I used to be.

I must've been the biggest fool ever to draw breath. Drowned by the one woman I called sister of the neighborhood.

'But the dead don't come back empty-handed. I came back knowing where every body is buried, and I'm collecting every debt she owes.'

When Carmela stepped out of the bathroom, I said it lightly, the way you slide a knife under a door. "Seems the whole helpless-little-thing routine is in fashion. Even the men who run things fall for that type."

She stopped mid-motion, the towel still in her hands, and something flickered behind her eyes. Her tongue stayed still.

But I knew she'd take the bait.

'Go on. Show me how far you'll walk out onto thin ice for a man. I'm honestly looking forward to it.'

The next morning she dragged me to the boutiques on the good side of the avenue, the row of shops the families let sit as neutral ground.

She never flinched about spending. Especially when the money was mine.

"Carmela?" A tall man in a suit that cost more than most soldiers earned in a year crossed toward us as we entered a high-end store. "What a coincidence."

"Oh, Mr. Blanco." Her sour face melted into delight in half a breath. "Fancy running into you here."

"There's an associate I'm calling on nearby. My man went to fetch coffee. Can I offer you ladies a cup?"

He carried himself easy, polished, charming in the way that made men forget he'd inherited a seat no blood of his had any right to. The young acting boss of the Blanco outfit. No wonder Carmela circled him like a moth.

"I never say no to that," Carmela answered, glowing.

Then his gaze slid to me, and I watched surprise move across his face, followed by a flicker of interest that made the back of my neck cold. "And you're...?"

Carmela stepped in front of me at once, a wall of perfume and possession.

"This is my sworn sister, Adriana Fiore. She's shy with strangers, Mr. Blanco. Pay her no mind."

I played it his way, tucking myself behind her shoulder. The last thing I wanted in this life was to be caught in the current of a man like Salvatore Blanco.

"Boss. Your coffee." His associate returned. Salvatore took the cups and handed one to Carmela with a warm smile.

She colored, took it in both hands like a schoolgirl, and waited. The moment her prince rounded the corner out of sight, she dropped the second cup in the trash.

"You don't really care for coffee, do you, sister?" she asked, sweetness laid on thick as syrup over a trap.

I said nothing and found a seat.

She didn't so much as blink. She swept straight into the fitting room to try on clothes.

Just then I checked my phone and let the corner of my mouth lift.

[NOTICE: The account ending 6823 has been temporarily held pending review of unusual activity. Contact Riverstone Bank at 1-800-555-2471 or your app for details.]

'Now let's see what tribute she pays with.'

"Ma'am, the card's been declined. Have you got another?"

Carmela had been lounging across the settee waiting for the clerk to ring her up. She sat bolt upright.

"What? That's impossible. Your machine's broken. Run it again."

"I'm sorry. The card truly isn't working."

I sat easy in the lounge, watching through the glass as Carmela's face turned red, then white.

'It's a rare thing, watching someone so entitled with money that was never hers.'

Soon my phone rang.

The second I answered, she snapped, "Adriana. What's wrong with your card? Why won't it work?"

"Sorry about that. Just got word from my editor. Someone lifted my work, and they're looking into both sides, so my royalties got frozen for now. Nothing I can do."

"Then hand over your credit card." The greed in her never even blushed.

"I don't have one."

In the end she still bought all four outfits she'd picked. It only cost her maxing out five cards to do it.

On the way out her face looked like she'd swallowed something rotten.

Her eyes threw daggers at me. I acted like I couldn't feel them land.

I kept scrolling through my phone, until a notification slid across the screen.

Someone had sent me a friend request.

The instant Carmela caught a glimpse of the name, the color flooded her whole face red.

Before I could react, she snatched the phone out of my hand and slammed it to the floor.

And then, like something had come loose in her, she shoved me hard, seized my collar, and dragged me down with her.

Adriana! Why the hell did Salvatore add you?! Were you trying to get your claws into him?!

Madonna. Her eyes were bloodshot, her voice low and enraged, the kind of low that made the neighbors pull their shades.

What the hell is wrong with you? I snapped, prying her hands off me.

She chased after me down the hall like a rabid dog, demanding an explanation. Answer me! Why did he add you?!

I was going to ignore her. Then I paused. Knowing her temper, I figured Id toss her a scrap to chew on.

It might be because his outfit wanted to buy the ledgers on my book. But I already swore the pact to another house, and theyre trying to talk me into switching allegiance.

Why didnt you just say that earlier? I almost misunderstood, she huffed, smoothing her skirt. I knew it. Theres no way a man like Salvatore would look twice at someone like you.

Right. She always looked down on me.

Back in the old neighborhood, she was the one the elders favored, the one who ran with the connected girls, while I was just the quiet Fiore daughter with a good memory and nothing else going for me.

I suppose she kept me around as her sworn sister for one reason only: so I could be the shadow that made her shine brighter.

I didnt bother answering her mockery. I just picked up my smashed phone and walked away.

Tch. Scribbles some trashy little book and thinks shes made. What a freak?!

She didnt even try to keep her voice down. It carried clean across the room, meant for me to hear.

In my last life, I wouldve brushed it off as her just being upset.

But now I know better. My sworn sister has always been this rotten, all the way to the bone.

Two days later, the pact arrived by courier from the Atlas house, sealed and waiting for my mark.

That night, Carmela knocked on my door.

Adriana, dont swear your ledgers to Atlas. Swear them to our outfit instead. I know we cant match their tribute, but hey, were sworn sisters, right? Youll do this for me, wont you?

Just like that, she plucked the pact off the table and dropped it in the trash like it was nothing.

This ones so certain Ill roll over for her.

Carmela, I already gave them my word. I cant help you on this one.

I kept my head down to hide the annoyance in my eyes and fished the pact back out of the bin.

Dont forget whos got Salvatores eye. Once Im married into the Blanco bloodline, youll be lucky if I let you lick the plate. Dont be stupid, cara.

Sorry, Carmela. I really cant break the oath.

She opened her mouth to blow up again, then something crossed her face and she made herself go still, swallowing it down.

Forget it. Im going to bed. Go take your shower.

I smirked to myself, gave a small nod, and carried my nightclothes to the bathroom.

When I came out, she was gone.

So was the pact.

Then I saw her message.

[Had to leave early. Dont worry, I sent the pact off for you.]

She really is that desperate. Dio.

I copied the footage off the security feed Id had installed, pulled the real Atlas pact from my drawer, pressed my thumb hard against the inside of my left wrist for the space of one breath, then signed it clean and sent it out myself.

The next morning, a girl from the old neighborhood called.

Hey, Adriana, did Carmela come into money or something? Her feeds nothing but designer these days. She land herself a made man?

I blinked, a little surprised. I opened the page to see what she meant.

Carmelas wall looked like a shop window on Fifth Avenue. Doing it to catch Salvatores eye, no doubt.

I dont really know. She hasnt said a word to me.

Listen that mens jacket she posted doesnt it look like

After the call, I scrolled back to a photo Carmela had put up two days earlier.

It was a mans suit jacket. Stained with coffee.

A suit like the one in her photograph, the kind that cost as much as a soldier earned in a season, one stain and it was ruined for good.

Looks like without me around to stop her in this life, she still went ahead and pulled the same stunt. Only, I'm guessing it didn't go quite as smoothly this time.

She hadn't looked too pleased yesterday when she came to me, sweet as poison, begging me to put my mark on that pact.

Now, I'm really curious. How is Carmela planning to cover the price of a forty-thousand-dollar suit?

A week later, the Atlas people put the word out through their front, announcing the ledgers would go into production. They named me, the one who'd chronicled it all.

Ten minutes later, Carmela called.

"Adriana! Didn't you already swear those ledgers over to our house? How come you gave them to Atlas too? The pact is exclusive!"

She didn't even let me get a word in, just came at me the second I answered, rattling it off like a Tommy gun.

"When did I ever swear anything to you?" I asked.

"Adriana, come on. Don't be greedy. I even walked through every line with you before the oath. Your mark is right there on the pact, you set it down yourself. I can't cover for you this time."

And with that she hung up, quick as a knife withdrawn.

She was so sure of herself it almost made me laugh. If I hadn't set that camera in the shadows, I might've really taken the fall for this.

Half an hour later, the Blanco outfit, the media front where Carmela worked as a low associate, put out their own word. The rights to my ledgers were unclean, they said, and they intended to bring the matter before the Commission and demand tribute in restitution.

Same ledgers. Same author. Two houses, both known names in the business of turning documented knowledge into currency.

Naturally, the moment it broke, the whole network lit up.

People don't play gentle when it comes to a thing owned twice. Selling the same secret to two families? The neighborhood will tear you apart for it.

Sure enough, the whisper war reached me within minutes, my name passed mouth to mouth and marked with contempt.

At the same time, Carmela dropped her own poison quietly into the network.

Everyone pays for their own greed.

She even tied my working name and the title of the ledgers to it, plain for anyone to read.

Of course the neighborhood did what the neighborhood does and put the pieces together fast. She wasn't only my sworn sister, she was a soldier of the Blanco house too.

After that it broke wide open, and the poison kept coming, more of it every hour.

Atlas's man reached out, rattled, asking what in God's name was happening.

I stayed steady and gave it to him straight. I swore the ledgers to Atlas alone. You are the only house that paid me a cent.

Atlas was an old, established name, so they read the room fast.

Their consigliere moved on it at once and told me they would settle the matter without delay.

And in that same stretch, the woman planted low among them, the one who'd ended up Salvatore's wife in the life before, had just come up through their ranks.

Even without the coffee this time, she still rose to the boss's right hand within a week. I'd wager Carmela was seething.

But with the whole tangle over the ledgers, she didn't have the nerve to carry her grievance to Salvatore.

So she turned on Francesca, the one planted low instead.

Salvatore kept shielding the girl, and Carmela's hatred only swelled.

One noon, during the quiet hour, Carmela slipped a pair of the girl's stockings into Salvatore's drawer, then played the wounded party, swearing the low associate had been trying to work her way into the boss's bed.

The place fell into chaos that day, and it ended with the girl stripped of her place on the spot for "trying to seduce the boss."

All of it came straight from the fixer I'd put on Carmela the moment I came back, the watcher I'd set to shadow her every move.

This whisper war she'd staged was only a bonus he'd turned up.

But truthfully, I no longer had the strength to care. The poison was thickening, my messages full of the ugliest things people could think to say.

Once the last piece of proof was in my hands, I made the call.

"Lucia, I need to bring someone before the Commission."

"Understood. Send me everything."