Chapter 3

At that, Salvatore glared at Lillian on the floor and gave the man at his side a curt order.

"Go to Vegas. Break that man's arms and legs, dump him in the desert, and bring back my twenty million dollars."

Lillian couldn't stop crying. She clutched at Antonio's shoes and sobbed.

"Don! You can't! He's the only family I have! Please, save him!"

Antonio's expression shifted. He said quietly, "Father, I'll use the revenue from my docks to pay back the money within three days.

"As for Lillian's brother, could you leave him to me? I'll make him pay dearly. Your men won't need to dirty their hands."

Salvatore's eyes went cold.

"Are you bargaining with me?"

Antonio lowered his head.

"I wouldn't dare. But I'm the one who moved the money, so I should take responsibility. I'm willing to give up the operating rights to my two docks in the east district for three years to make up for what this cost the family."

The council room fell silent.

Antonio had taken those two docks himself. They were his biggest bargaining chip in the Vescari family.

If he was willing to give them up, it proved how badly he wanted to protect Lillian.

I'd thought my heart was numb by then, but a sharp ache still spread through my chest when I heard that.

Once, when I was kidnapped by our enemies, he'd traded all his territory to get me back.

Now he was staking the same kind of fortune to save another woman.

Salvatore scoffed.

"You'll give that much up for a woman?"

Antonio didn't argue. He just went on.

"There's one more thing that concerns the family's future. I'd like you and everyone here to consider it."

Salvatore didn't give permission, but he didn't cut him off either. He just watched him coldly.

Antonio chose his words with care.

"All these years, Cecilia has kept the family's finances in order. No one can deny what she's done. And no one in the entire Vescari family is better suited to run its finances.

"But having all the financial power in one person's hands isn't good for the family in the long run."

He paused, his eyes on me and his expression hard to read. "I propose that Cecilia remain chief financial officer but hand over the vault seal.

"Cecilia will still be Donna Vescari, and she'll still have a say in family decisions. She simply needs to delegate some authority to the younger generation."

Then his tone shifted to one that made me feel sick.

"Besides, she's bled for this family too many times. I don't want her working herself to the bone for it for the rest of her life."

I looked at him and finally understood what he was doing.

He wanted to strip me of my power and leave me with nothing but a title.

Salvatore narrowed his eyes.

"Are you bringing this up today for Cecilia's sake or for that woman's sake?"

Antonio was silent for a moment, then spoke quietly.

"The Vescari family needs an heir."

The council room went silent.

My chest tightened. I already knew what he meant.

I tried to hold myself together, but my eyes still went red.

Seven years earlier, a rival family had attacked our safe house.

Three shotgun pellets tore through the armored door in front of Antonio, and I threw myself over him.

One pellet ripped into my lower abdomen.

The doctors worked on me in the operating room all night.

To save my life, they removed my damaged uterus.

It was pouring rain that day. Antonio knelt outside the ER, covered in blood, cutting the back of his own hand with a knife, over and over.

He'd never believed in God, but that day he kept crying out to Him.

He swore that if I lived, he'd never have children of his own. No matter whose child the Vescari family eventually adopted as its heir, I would be the only one he ever wanted.

And now, with his own hands, he had taken that knife and driven it straight back into my chest.

Salvatore frowned.

"Antonio, don't forget. The reason Cecilia can't have children is that she took that bullet for you."

"I know."

He avoided my eyes, his voice low and rough.

"I owe her my life, and I owe her a child.

"But, Father, I'm not the Antonio who only had to answer to her anymore. I'm the Don of the Vescari family. This family needs an heir.

"Lillian is eight weeks pregnant. Yesterday's scan confirmed she's carrying twins."

Every face in the room changed.

Even the traditionalist captains who had supported me began to waver.

In the mafia, the obsession with a male heir ran bone-deep.

Salvatore's eyes fell to her flat stomach, and his grip on the bullet casings loosened.

"Is that true?"

"It's all true, Don Vescari."

Lillian's eyes were red. She carefully laid a hand over her stomach and spoke softly.

"The doctor said they're both boys."

Most of the coldness left Salvatore's face.

He sat back, lit a cigarette, and slowly blew out a ring of smoke.

Antonio got up, came over to me, crouched down, and took my hand.

"Cecilia, the house on the hill behind the estate has been redone just the way you like it.

"Haven't you always wanted a child? All you have to do is live there for a while, and you'll have two sons. Wouldn't that be wonderful?"

I looked at him and spoke softly.

"And Lillian?"

Antonio hesitated.

"She's only the children's mother. You're my wife. The title of Donna Vescari will always be yours alone."

He said it with complete sincerity.

He even bent his head and kissed the back of my hand afterward.

"Hand over the vault seal. Stay out of these dangerous affairs.

"From now on, just be my wife and take care of the children. I'll take you back to Sicily, and I'll build that sunroom I promised you.

"Cecilia, you're the one I love, and you always will be."

Nobody in that room thought there was anything absurd about what he'd said.

I looked at him for a long time, like I was seeing him clearly for the first time.

I loved him.

So he thought I should understand that he needed an heir. That I should accept his lover, give up my power, and quietly wait for him to come home.

But without dignity, what was that love worth?

My heart was still aching, but I forced myself to stay calm and looked steadily at Salvatore at the head of the table.

"Don, what do you say?"

Salvatore avoided my gaze, slowly turning the heavy ring on his finger.

"Cecilia, you've bled for this family. The Vescaris don't forget the people who serve them.

"But Antonio is right. The bloodline can't end.

"Hand over the vault seal. Rest at the house on the hill behind the estate for a while, and let the younger ones take some of the bookkeeping off your hands."

One careless word about rest, and every bullet I'd taken for the Vescari family was wiped away.

I looked around the table. Everyone avoided my eyes, and suddenly I laughed.

"Fine."