Chapter 1

A single tear slid down my cheek and disappeared into the white pillow.

"Congratulations, Arthur. You're the true king of the East Coast underworld now."

Arthur frowned down at me, then turned to the men in black outside the door. "Keep a close eye on my wife. If this happens again, I'll ship every one of you off to Siberia to feed the wolves."

The bodyguards and nurses lowered their heads and barely dared to breathe.

Arthur picked up a wet wipe and gently wiped the tears from my face.

"I'll pretend today never happened."

"Just be a good Donna and stay out of trouble. Once you're better, I'll take you to see your father in prison."

Father.

That one word cut deep, leaving me struggling to breathe.

Half an hour earlier, I'd gotten a call from the prison. My father had suffered a sudden heart attack, and they hadn't been able to save him.

He died never knowing that his most trusted heir, his own son-in-law, had risen to power by destroying the Corsica family.

Arthur had once knelt before my father and kissed his signet ring, his eyes full of devotion.

"Don Corsica, please give Cecilia to me. I swear I'll love her and protect her with everything I have."

Back then, he was the family's most feared enforcer, and I was the heiress. Everyone said we were a match made in heaven.

Arthur was cold and ruthless, but with me, he was always gentle.

He didn't know how to win a girl over, so he tracked down roses in every color from all over the world and gave me a bouquet every day.

Once I mentioned offhand that I wanted tiramisu from Florence, and he actually flew to Italy and showed up under my window that evening holding the cake.

At first, my father was against our marriage. He said Arthur came from nothing and didn't deserve me. Arthur didn't argue. Instead, he spent three months crushing the uprisings on the South Side and in Brooklyn. Then he returned with the family crests of his defeated rivals and knelt before my father.

At our wedding, in front of a room full of guests from both sides of the law, he promised to make me the happiest woman in the world.

And he did. After we were married, he couldn't fall asleep at night unless he was holding me.

Whenever I needed him, he was always there, gently brushing a hand over my cheek.

I thought life would be like that forever.

Then Lilith Hayes came along.

Her mother had saved Arthur's mother's life. When Lilith's family went bankrupt, she was sent to stay at our estate.

At first, Arthur acted like she wasn't even there.

When did things start to change?

Maybe it was the time Lilith woke up in the living room and grabbed his sleeve without thinking.

Or maybe it was at that family gathering when Lilith played the piano, and Arthur actually praised her for once.

After that, Lilith always found a way to be near him: bumping into him on his morning run, bringing him coffee late at night, waiting outside his study in a thin nightgown.

Then the anonymous letter showed up.

Someone sent a letter to the elders, accusing my father of working with our sworn enemies, the Bartolo family, and betraying the Corsicas. It even claimed he'd offered Lilith to their boss, who had violated her.

Arthur flew into a rage. Overnight, he rallied every captain he'd bought off and forced my father out in front of everyone. My father was stripped of all his power, and Arthur personally sent him to the most secure prison in the country.

And just like that, Arthur rose to power, my family fell, and the Corsica name was replaced by his.

I went to him in tears and begged him to spare my father for the sake of what we once had.

But he only gave me a cold look. "Cecilia, he may be your father, but he betrayed the family and sided with our enemies."

Arthur threw the letter in my face.

"By family rules, there's no mercy for traitors."

Despite this, he publicly announced that I'd stepped away from the family business years ago and had nothing to do with any of it. Then, he forced me to stay under his protection.

When the FBI took my father away, I chased after the prison van for three blocks before my legs gave out.

I was lost in thought when one of Arthur's men rushed into my hospital room. "Don! Ms. Hayes is having another episode. Her chest is in terrible pain!"

Arthur got up and headed for the door. "What happened? Didn't I tell the private doctor to watch her around the clock?!"

I pressed a hand to my stomach and called after him, my voice raw. "Arthur..."

Today was my birthday. It was also the day my father died.

He stopped and looked back. "I'll be right back."

"Lilith developed a stress-induced heart condition because of what your father did to her. I have to make things right for her."

I watched him walk away without a second thought, and it felt like a ton of rock was crushing my chest.

Lilith. Always Lilith.

For her, Arthur would push me aside again and again.

When Lilith brought out all that "evidence," I'd just found out I was pregnant with our first baby.

I went to Arthur and begged him to speak up for my father in front of the council of elders.

Instead, he locked me in our Long Island house and stood by while FBI agents took my father away.

That night I broke down, and it brought on a threatened miscarriage. I lay unconscious in the hospital, and he stayed by my side all night, dabbing my lips with a wet cotton swab every two hours.

I begged him to spare my father, but all he said was that he was sorry.

My father went to prison, and I lost the baby. Something inside me died for good, but he kept telling me everything would be okay.

We lived under the same roof for three years, yet the man I knew best had become a stranger.

I considered leaving him.

But I needed Arthur's power and money to pull strings so my father could have a little dignity in there.

All I could do was wait. Wait for the day my father got out, so we could take back what was ours.

One night, Arthur came home drunk. He held me and kissed me and talked about the way things used to be.

He kept saying my name over and over, like we'd gone back in time.

I thought he still had feelings for me. I thought there was still a chance to save us.

The joke was on me. The very next morning, I saw Lilith walk out of his bedroom wearing his shirt.

In that moment, I finally woke up.

Daisy, my trusted bodyguard, had tears in her eyes, and her voice shook. "The doctor said you'd had a miscarriage before, and this crash damaged your uterus. From now on... it'll be very hard for you to get pregnant again."

"Good," I said softly. "Without a baby, I won't have any weak spots left."

I looked away and turned to Daisy.

"By the way, how's that thing I asked you to take care of?"

Daisy tucked the blanket around me. "It's all arranged. The key your father left you will arrive in five days."

I let out a slow breath.

Five more days, and I could get out of this hell and leave him.