Chapter 3

Seraphina didn't hesitate for a second.

With her pregnant belly, she dropped to her knees right into the mess and pulled the old lady's head into her arms.

"Nonna, don't be afraid. I'm here."

She took off her shawl and slid it under the old woman's head.

Using warm water, she gently wiped the old lady's face and body clean, changed her into a fresh nightgown, and scrubbed the dirty floor three times over.

She didn't even flinch.

The elders crowding the door were speechless.

Cassandra stood at the end of the hall, covering her nose, pale as a ghost.

"She's pregnant..." one elder murmured. "And she knelt on a floor like that."

The old lady weakly grasped Seraphina's hand. Two lines of tears rolled from her cloudy eyes.

"Child... whoever stays by your side at your most humiliating moment, you remember them for a lifetime."

Three days later, the old lady summoned the whole family to the grand hall.

She slid a ring off her bony finger.

Black onyx, engraved with the de Santis family crest.

"My mother-in-law gave this to me." She slipped it onto Seraphina's finger in front of everyone. "From today on, she is a part of this family."

Cassandra stood in the crowd, her nails digging into her palms.

That night, Seraphina shoved a $100,000 check into my bag.

"The ring is appraised at a hundred grand. The cash is yours," she said casually. "Aria, without you, I'd be on a Greyhound bus back to the country right now."

I clutched the check, my hands shaking with guilt.

A ten-dollar bottle of puking syrup for a hundred grand.

My conscience hurt.

So I turned around and spent $150,000 to custom-order an Italian handmade crib for her.

Down fifty grand.

Now I could sleep at night.

Cassandra wasn't dead.

She was desperate.

Three weeks later, Seraphina slid her phone over to me.

A yacht rental receipt.

Saturday night, Lake Michigan, a whole-night charter.

"She invited Caspian." Seraphina's voice was calm. "Used some old business between the Viti and de Santis families as an excuse."

"You need to charter a yacht all night to talk business?"

"She wants to make it a done deal." Seraphina sneered. "She checked her calendar. She’s ovulating that day. If she gets knocked up, the de Santis family will have two kids. The old lady's ring might not be enough to protect me."

She pulled out $100,000 in cash.

"By any means necessary. Don't let her touch him."

I took the cash and went home.

Tearfully pocketing a $90,000 profit.

It wasn't that I didn't want to spend it.

I actually did the math.

What can a hundred grand do? Hire a hitman? Blow up the yacht?

Blowing up a boat on the lake would make the news.

I made a list.

$9,500 to bribe a deckhand named Mario. His mom needed knee surgery and was short nine grand.

$500 to rent a catering uniform and a fake ID to get myself on board.

$46 for the strongest prescription sleeping pills from the pharmacy.

Saturday night, the lake was perfectly calm.

Cassandra wore a practically non-existent black silk slip dress, leaning against the deck railing.

"Caspian, why not give it a try?" Her fingers traced down his shirt. "What can Seraphina give you? A bastard child? She even holds her fork backward when eating French food."

Caspian didn't push her away.

I walked over with a tray, keeping my head down.

"Sir, your whiskey."

He took it and downed it in one gulp.

Cassandra glanced at me, totally not recognizing me with my mask on.

"Get lost," she snapped.

I got lost.

I crouched by the stairs and started the timer.

Eleven minutes.

Cassandra's voice drifted from the deck, soft and urgent. "Caspian... it's just the two of us tonight..."

Then a thud.

Followed by—

"Zzz... snore..."

I peeked out.

The most terrifying Don in the Chicago underworld was sprawled on his back on a deck chair, mouth wide open, snoring like a freight train.

Cassandra was straddling his lap, dress straps slipped to her elbows, totally frozen.

"Caspian?" She patted his cheek. "Caspian! Wake up!"

Mario bolted out from the cabin.

"Miss! The boss had too much to drink! It's dangerous to be on a boat like this!"

He hoisted Caspian over his shoulder, moving like the boat was on fire.

"What are you doing! Put him down!"

"We must dock immediately! If something happens to him, can you take the blame, Miss Viti?"

The yacht roared and spun around.

Cassandra chased them in five-inch heels, tripped on her hem, and ate the deck.

At the pier, Seraphina's car was already waiting.

The backseat door was open.

Mario shoved Caspian inside and slammed the door.

Holding onto the railing, hair a mess and makeup half ruined from crying, Cassandra watched the car speed away into the night.

She let out a piercing scream into the night sky.

The next morning, Seraphina poured me coffee at the breakfast table.

She was in a robe, her belly showing clearly now.

"He slept in my bed last night." She slowly stirred her coffee. "First thing he asked when he woke up was if the baby kicked."

"Happy ending," I said.

"No."

She put down her spoon.

"Aria, I figured something out. As long as he can still have kids, there will always be another Cassandra, and another. I can stop them once, but not forever."

She looked up, pulled a check from the drawer, and slid it across to me.

One million.

"I want to make sure Caspian can never have another child for the rest of his life."