Chapter 1

The old Don died. Luciano Stanton became the new Don, drained the inheritance the old Don left behind, and had no intention of leaving a single cent to me or our daughter.

I neither cried nor made a scene.

I simply threw the divorce agreement in his face.

“You’ve squandered all of Dad’s inheritance on Sara. Luciano, what about us? What about our daughter Jenny?”

Two Capos were still standing in the room, and he did not ask them to leave.

I knew this was a show of power.

“Sara is pregnant.” He exhaled a ring of smoke. “The doctor says it’s a boy.”

“Whether Sara is my adopted daughter or my future wife, she is mine.” His tone was calm. “The money is naturally mine as well.”

I let out a laugh and grabbed the glass ashtray, hurling it at him.

He didn’t even try to dodge.

A shard sliced across his temple, and blood streamed down the side of his face.

“When you adopted Sara, how old was she? Now she’s just come of age and you’ve already gotten her pregnant. All these years, was I raising your mistress for you?” My voice was trembling. “And more than that, you personally wiped out her entire family back then. Does she know?”

He slowly wiped away the blood, smiling without a trace of warmth.

“Do you know why I spared Sara in the first place? Because she looked like someone. Emily, now that you’re old and no longer attractive, Sara just happens to satisfy my needs. Consider it compensation for her.”

I was stunned.

“Luciano, if your father were still alive—”

“He’s dead. And I am the Don now.” He cut me off. “If you want your daughter to live well, watch your mouth.”

He leaned closer.

The smell of whiskey and cigars pressed down on me.

“Don’t talk to me about morality, Emily,” he said in a low voice. “You were also picked up from a pile of corpses by my father. Without the Stanton family, you’d have sunk to the bottom of the Hudson River long ago.”

I looked at him and suddenly felt that our ten-year marriage was a joke at this very moment.

It was true that I had been adopted by the old Don, but it was also he who personally persuaded the old Don to betroth me to him.

And now, he says he wants to marry this adopted daughter he snatched from an enemy family because she looks like me.

I raised my hand to slap him, but he grabbed my wrist.

The family ring, which the old Don had personally placed on his finger before his death, pressed into my bones.

“Save your strength.” He flung me aside. “I will raise my daughter, but I won’t let her inherit my position. She’s a girl.”

“Jenny will never accept her own sister suddenly becoming her mother,” I asked coldly. “Jenny stays with me. Give me the portion of the inheritance that was meant for her.”

I pushed the divorce agreement toward him.

“Otherwise, do you want all Five Families of New York to know that the new Don plans to marry the orphan of an enemy family he raised himself? Do you want Sara to know that you killed her entire family?”

“Threatening me?”

“Learned it from you.”

He stared at me for three seconds, then pulled out a gun and pressed it against my forehead.

In those three seconds, I truly thought I was going to die.

After a moment of silence, he withdrew the gun and burst into laughter.

“So what if others find out about Sara’s identity? I’m the Don. No one dares show me disrespect!” He took a drag of his cigar. “So what if Sara learns the truth? She’s loved me for years, and I can give her what she wants. If she can’t accept it, I’ll just replace her with another woman.”

“The Consigliere, the Underboss, the five Capos—they all listen to me. You’re nothing more than the old Don’s adopted daughter. After divorcing me, you are nothing. Threaten me? You’re still too naive.”

The door slammed shut.

Even the family crest on the wall trembled from the impact.