On the night the old Don named me his heir, at twenty-five, the Family slid the shortlist across the table and told me to choose my successor.
I smiled and said I'd decide by drawing lots.
In my past life, I overrode every objection at the sit-down and chose Elias Lennox.
What I didn't know was that he had long been whispering in the ear of an enemy syndicate. When I was eight months pregnant, he forged proof that I'd skimmed tribute and buried me under a hundred-billion blood debt to the Family.
Cornered, with no way out, my parents leaped to their deaths, one after the other.
I went to confront Elias, only to overhear him talking with his men behind the door of a private room at the club.
On the big screen mounted on the wall, my most intimate moment was playing for them all.
"Elias threw himself into the whole scheme just to help Theo wipe the Hale name off the map. The man must love her to death…"
"This Miles Hale always looks so proper, like some untouchable goddess. Who'd have guessed she'd be this wild in Elias's bed!"
"I heard you framed Miles, buried her under a hundred billion, and she's still carrying your kid. Aren't you afraid she'll dig up the truth and come after you?"
Elias, always so cold, so far above every man in that room, stood there with nothing but tenderness in his eyes, gathering Theo Vale's hair in his hands.
He gave a scornful little laugh, and one palm smoothed the lapel of his jacket flat.
"The kid in Miles's belly isn't mine."
"There were a good six men in Miles's room that night. I was busy picking out a wedding dress for Theo."
Crude, filthy jeering broke out across the room.
Choked with humiliation, my emotions swung so violently that I went into labor on the spot and died in childbirth.
When I opened my eyes again, I was reborn at the exact moment of the choice, and I'd drawn Lucian Ashford, the man who had vanished for three years, swallowed by the dark.
When I cupped my pregnant belly and laced my fingers through Lucian's, him sharp in his tailored suit, Elias stood there with red-rimmed eyes and put his fist through every glass wall on the floor.
……
I tossed the slip of paper with the name "Lucian Ashford" onto the table.
My tone was flat.
"Since I drew him, then let Lucian take my place as Underboss."
My father, the Don's right hand, shot to his feet, the calm of a made man cracking.
"Miles, this isn't only about naming your successor. Whoever's chosen becomes your husband, bound into the Hale blood by oath. Are you absolutely certain…"
My mother, the second voice on the Commission, looked at me with worry too.
"Cara, haven't you always been fond of that Elias Lennox?"
"His bloodline's a bit thin, but since you want him, why not…"
I shook my head and made my final decision.
"Lucian it is."
In my past life, my parents each drew a man from the Five Families and groomed him carefully for years, so that one day he would stand at my side and hold the Hale name together.
I took one look and set my heart on the strikingly handsome Elias.
I spent years chasing after him like a lovesick fool, naively believing he'd come to love me in time.
In the end, all it got me was a brutal death.
Living this life over, I won't make the same mistake again.
Seeing how resolute I was, my parents finally set their worries aside.
"Then we'll arrange the handover. But for now, we keep the name buried. No harm in letting the Commission wait for the gathering to hear it."
I nodded my agreement.
The moment I stepped out into the corridor, the senior Capos closed around me. Their conversations had died the instant the doors opened, and now they stood too straight, hands folded, watching my mouth for the one word that mattered.
"Miss Hale, may we ask who you settled on as your successor?"
What they wanted wasn't only the successor's name. They wanted to know which man would be married into the Hale blood, seated one chair below the Don.
My gaze found Elias, standing off at the far end of the hall.
His fists were clenched stubbornly at his sides, a trace of coldness and disgust hiding behind his eyes. His thumb moved once, slow, along the underside of his signet ring.
I smiled to myself, understanding it all. At this very moment, for the sake of his beloved Theo Vale, he was surely steeling himself, swallowing his revulsion, readying to get close to me.
Another Capo followed my line of sight and picked up the thread as though it were the most natural thing in the world.
"Do you even need to ask? Miss Hale chose Elias Lennox, without question."
"That's right. So young, and already he's won the heart of the Hale heir. Of course the crown goes to him."
