chapter 2

I drove to the East River pier.

The March wind in Manhattan cut across my face like blades.

I leaned over the steering wheel.

I didn’t cry.

The tears had already been drained in the elevator.

What remained was only a hollow, freezing emptiness.

The engine was still running.

Warm air hissed from the vents, but I kept shivering.

My hand reached into my purse and touched the velvet handkerchief.

The hard plastic of the pregnancy test burned against my fingers.

I was carrying the Don’s child.

The child of the man who destroyed my father.

For five years I had believed my family collapsed because my father made mistakes.

And when he appeared, he became the sun in my ruined world.

The year my family fell apart, I was still in college.

Sophia Rossi, the daughter of the Rossi Family, was my roommate.

The man I loved — the Don — was her most devoted pursuer.

And the man she loved, Marco Ricci, loved me.

That was how the four of us became a ridiculous, tangled tragedy.

But I always knew —

I never had a future with him.

In the eyes of the world, Sophia and he were the perfect match.

They both came from powerful Families.

And he was the heir to the Boss of the Underworld.

While my family had already fallen.

I had tuition to pay.

My mother’s medical bills.

My family’s debts.

By day I worked as a waitress.

By afternoon I tutored.

From ten at night until four in the morning,

I served drinks in a hidden bar.

I slept less than four hours a day.

My mother’s hospital bills were a bottomless pit.

Back then, the story of the three of them was Manhattan’s favorite gossip.

Everyone knew the Don had pursued Sophia Rossi for three years.

And yet Sophia despised him,

while giving her whole heart to a poor student named Marco.

The night I saw the three of them collide

was Christmas Eve.

I was on the late shift at Sal’s bar.

At two in the morning, the Don reserved the deepest VIP booth.

When I carried the drinks inside,

Sophia was sitting across from him.

Marco stood behind her, his face ashen.