Chapter 1

The day the Family made its public consolidation of power, the man I'd given three years to finally came to offer a blood union.

Just not to me.

Jewels were spread across the table. A suitcase gaped open, packed to its edges with cash. Lorenzo Bevacqua stood there holding the true blood daughter by the hand, and when he turned his eyes on me, there was nothing in them but distance.

"Adriana Valente, you're nothing but a mistress the Family never claimed. You can do nothing for my name. Vittoria Valente is different. She's the Don's true daughter by blood, and one day she'll inherit everything the Valente Family owns."

My brow furrowed, and he stepped forward, his face arranged into something like regret.

"Don't worry, Adriana. I can't give you the name, but I won't leave you with nothing either. Be good, and I'll set aside two days a week to spend with you."

"The feast to bind Vittoria and me is in five days. Behave yourself until then, and I'll sign the North End apartment over to you. Call it compensation."

Watching him preen like some small-time soldier drunk on borrowed luck, my expression went cold.

"Someone come in here. Something filthy has crawled into my house. Clean it up."

Laughable, really. Every last dollar of the Valente empire had been earned by me — every racket, every front, every debt owed to this Family. What did any of it have to do with Vittoria?

——

I'd only just clawed my way into the top three most feared names in the Territory, and now this piece of filth had shown up at my door dragging his bad luck behind him.

When the housekeeper came out with a broom, Lorenzo actually looked pleased with himself.

"Adriana, I know how deeply you love me. But a woman with no claim to the blood really isn't a match for a man like me."

"Once Vittoria and I are bound, we'll take the Valente business into our hands together. You've been so completely devoted to me. I give you my word I won't treat you badly."

The Family had just announced its dominance to every rival in the Territory, and I sat at the very top of it. Watching Lorenzo now was like watching a clown leaping and flailing across a stage. Nothing more than laughable.

"Lorenzo, what makes you think that after you betray me to bind yourself to another, I'll sit here like some loyal little lapdog and wait for you?"

Lorenzo let out a soft laugh.

"We were together three years. Everyone knows how much you love me. The way you nearly severed yourself from the Valente name just to be with me is still whispered about in every social club in the Territory."

"Besides, a woman with no name of her own? If you left me, you likely couldn't even keep a roof over your head."

He took another step and leaned close to my ear, his voice laced with temptation.

"Once Vittoria and I are bound, I'll not only give you the North End apartment, I'll send a hundred grand a month for your keep, and take you away somewhere once a year on top of it."

A cold smile pulled at the corner of my mouth. So in his mind I was nothing more than a caged canary, kept quiet with a little pocket money.

Back when the Bevacqua Family was bleeding out, when their whole operation teetered on the edge of total ruin one season after another, the Valentes had refused to let us be together. They feared Lorenzo would drag me down into the grave with him. It was only because I swore I'd stand in the fire beside him that they finally gave their blessing.

I never imagined all my so-called devotion was just one more line in his ledger.

Barely three years, and the moment Vittoria turned up at the door waving a paternity test like a made man's button, Lorenzo was suddenly clamoring to break our binding and take her instead.

I'd asked him about it once. He'd answered with the conviction of a man who believed himself righteous.

"Vittoria is the Valentes' true blood daughter. Once she inherits the Family, she can shield the Bevacquas. I don't have a choice."

"But don't worry. Even after I bind myself to Vittoria, there'll still be a place kept for you. I'll set aside two days a week to keep you company, and any child you bear me will be handed to Vittoria to raise, with the same claim to my name as any other."

That very night, I called in every last arrangement I'd ever held with the Bevacquas.

For three years, if I hadn't quietly been propping them up, a hopeless lost cause like the Bevacqua Family would have vanished from the Territory long ago.