Crossing Stars by Nicole Williams

Author:Nicole Williams [Williams, Nicole]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Romeo & Juliet, Literature & Fiction, Romance, Contemporary, New Adult & College, Contemporary Fiction
Amazon: B00K67D67Q
Barnesnoble: B00K67D67Q
Goodreads: 22049725
Publisher: Nicole Williams
Published: 2014-05-06T16:00:00+00:00

IF THE WHITE Party was the one day a year I always looked forward to, today was one of the ones I was most anxious about. Armistice Day had been brought into being back when my great-grandfather was running the Vipers, back when a man didn’t hesitate to say he was in the mafia when someone asked what he did for a living.

There’d always been Italians in Chicago, and there’d always been Irish . . . and there’d always been a power struggle between them. When the two nationalities first immigrated to America, they’d been shunned. Painted as dirty, lazy breeds who wouldn’t know honor if it sprung from their chests. Neither Irish nor Italian could find jobs in this great nation they’d heard so much about. With families to feed and nothing to lose, mobs were formed. It started out harmlessly enough—“you’re one of us, so we’ll protect you” sort of thing—but prohibition changed all of that. When Chicago’s homes ran dry of alcohol, its streets flowed with blood.

Armistice Day was the way my ancestors and Patrick Moran’s ancestors tried to atone for the ruthless bloodshed and unabashed hate between their groups. For one day every year, not a bullet was fired, not a vile of poison injected, not one body was dumped into the lake. Guns were locked away, crowbars settled back into car trunks, baseball bats rested in their corners, and knives were wiped clean. For one day a year, there was peace. How two men could decide one day of quiet could atone for so many days of unrest was a concept I’d never quite grasped, but regardless, I was always expected to take part in it.

The ceremony took place at the same cathedral every year, a giant stone mass on a hill overlooking the lake. It was so elaborate and rich with history, it could have belonged in the great cities of Europe. On one side of the cathedral sat the Costas, on the opposite side the Morans, and the only thing more shocking than two sworn enemies sharing the same oxygen was that not one time had the sacredness of Armistice Day been broken. Probably because both sides knew if they broke the temporary truce, their own men would be just as likely to kill them as their enemies would.

After the attempt on my life, I’d been stuffed in the front row of the cathedral between my parents and a dozen guards, my face hidden by thick black lace. This would be the first year I didn’t have to sit through the sermon with a heavy piece of fabric obscuring my vision. At least, not for the entire sermon.

As was tradition, each side selected a child who’d come of age in the past five years or so from one of the high-ranking families for a ritual known as the Exchanging of Arms ceremony. A boy from one side handed over the preferred weapon of his family, and a girl from the other side handed over the preferred weapon from hers.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.