Chapter 1

I never imagined a luxury childcare ad would lead me to the most dangerous family in Chicago.

The Bellandi estate sat behind black iron gates on the Gold Coast, its family crest worked in black and gold above the entrance. A row of black cars waited inside the drive. The butler who came to meet me introduced himself as Enzo. His gaze moved over my rain-soaked coat, then to the worn handbag in my hand.

“Miss Ward, this house does not hire women to decorate a room or charm the Don. If you enter, the children’s needs come first, the household rules second, and your curiosity last.”

He pushed the gate open.

“Do not ask about locked doors. Do not repeat names you hear. Do not promise the children anything you cannot keep.”

I tightened my grip on my bag and nodded.

Eight hours earlier, I had signed my divorce papers. Sebastian Crane’s lawyer told me the prenuptial agreement left me with no claim to the Crane family’s assets and no right to remain in the house. Sebastian did not even come. He sent his assistant with one message.

“If she wants to leave, let her leave clean.”

I signed my name and walked out of the house I had lived in for three years with twenty-six dollars in my wallet. By then, I had lost any interest in husbands. I needed a bed, a hot meal, and a place where the Crane family could not find me for a while.

So I told Enzo, “I understand. I won’t cross any lines.”

He led me through the corridor.

Portraits of past Bellandi men lined the walls. At the end of the hall, candles burned inside a private chapel, their light catching on old bullet marks in a silver candelabrum.

A side door opened from the chapel.

A man stepped out with a rosary looped once around his gloved hand. One bead was cracked. His dark three-piece suit was immaculate, his black hair neatly combed back, his gray eyes cold and steady. Behind him, a guard carried a bloodstained linen cloth folded with ceremonial care.

I knew his face.

Dante Bellandi, the current Don of the Bellandi family. Rumor said he had inherited the family at seventeen and rebuilt a collapsing old empire through dock unions, private casinos, import companies, and negotiations no newspaper ever printed.

His gaze settled on me.

“She’s the applicant?”

Enzo lowered his head. “Yes, Don.”

Dante handed the rosary to Enzo. “Return it to the chapel. The man confessed enough.”

Then he turned toward the dining room.

The room was far more chaotic than I expected.

Dinner sat untouched on the long table. A boy of about six sat in front of a chessboard, his face stern. “You promised to finish this game with me.”

Another boy stood beside a chair with a blanket clutched in his arms. His eyes were red with sleep, yet he was still demanding a bedtime story from Dante.

The youngest child sat in a high chair, crying so hard her cheeks had gone red. She held a white rabbit toy in one hand, and the bowl in front of her had not been touched.

“I won’t eat! I don’t want another woman!”

Dante stood among all three children, his brow drawn tight.

This man could silence a dock union and force rival families to step back, yet a chessboard, a bedtime story, and a little girl refusing dinner had trapped him beside his own table.

Enzo spoke quietly. “Don, Miss Ward is here.”

Both boys looked at me. One studied me with cold attention. The other looked openly annoyed. The little girl buried her face in the rabbit toy and cried harder.

Dante turned to me.

“Name.”

“Evelyn Ward.”

He nodded once, then looked at the boys. “Matteo. Nico. Upstairs.”

“The game isn’t finished,” the older boy said.

“Tomorrow.”

“What about my story?” the younger one demanded, clutching his blanket tighter.

“Two chapters tomorrow.”

The boys started upstairs with obvious reluctance. At the landing, they stopped and kept watching.

Dante bent down, picked up the crying little girl, and carried her to me.

“Livia.” His voice dropped. “Look at me.”

Livia lifted her head with a broken sob, tears caught in her lashes.

“You have to eat tonight.”

She turned her face away and hid against the rabbit again.

Dante stayed silent for a few seconds before turning the child toward me.

“Get her to eat three bites, and you can stay tonight.”

The butler, the maids, the guards, and the two boys on the stairs all looked at me.

I looked at the trembling little girl and slowly loosened my grip on the strap of my bag. My divorce papers were still folded at the bottom of it, and the twenty-six dollars in my wallet reminded me that even a dangerous house had more to offer than a rainy street: lights, food, and a door that could close behind me.

I set my handbag down by my feet and smoothed my wet coat.

“Give me a napkin and a pen.”