Chapter 4

The first thing I did with my new authority was fire every existing guard on the estate.

I replaced them with men I'd personally recruited and trained. In my past life, these were the soldiers who'd stayed loyal to me to the bitter end. The ones who died trying to protect me when everything collapsed.

In this life, I'd found them early. Former special forces with nowhere to go. Ex-boxers who'd been chewed up and spat out by the system. Men with skills nobody wanted and pride nobody cared about.

I gave them money. I gave them standing. And I gave them the one thing none of their previous employers had ever offered: respect.

They repaid me with absolute, unquestioning loyalty.

Leah was furious.

"Lily, what do you mean by that?"

"You can't just—these men have served this family for decades!" She squared off with me in the security office, every inch the entitled mistress of the house. "Who gave you the authority to throw them out like garbage?"

I didn't look up from the surveillance array I was configuring. "The Don did. Estate security is mine now. All of it."

"Don't pretend I don't see what you're doing!" Her voice pitched higher. "You're planting your own people to undermine George! You've been scheming this whole time!"

I cut the monitor and turned to face her. "Leah, if you've got this much free time, maybe you should put that energy into figuring out how to give George an heir."

"Because that's the only thing that'll keep you in this house."

The blood drained from her face so fast I thought she might faint. "You—"

"One month." I rose and stepped close enough to smell her perfume. "That clock is ticking, and if your womb is still empty when it runs out, James won't be half as patient as I am."

She stumbled back, genuine fear flooding her eyes.

She knew I wasn't bluffing. In this family, a woman who couldn't produce an heir had exactly zero value.

She fled the room.

From that day forward, she stopped challenging me and poured every drop of her energy into getting George's attention. She threw herself at him at every opportunity.

It didn't matter. George was an iceberg, and she didn't have the fire to melt even the outer layer.

Thirty days passed.

Leah wasn't pregnant.

The council reconvened.

James looked at her with barely disguised disgust. "You've disappointed us all, Leah."

She fell to her knees, sobs already flowing. "Please! Give me more time! I swear I'll conceive—"

"More time?" James's snort could have frozen water. "Half of Sicily is already laughing about the White Don who got drugged by a woman and still can't produce a child. The family's reputation can't afford your 'more time.'"

Another elder spoke up. "James is right. We've waited long enough. If Leah is incapable, the obvious solution is Lily."

Hearing my name didn't surprise me. I'd calculated for this exact outcome.

Leah's head whipped toward me, eyes blazing with hatred. "No! Absolutely not! She doesn't love him! She's just scheming for the Donna's title—"

"Enough!" James cut her off with a slash of his hand. "Love never matters. What matters is an heir. Lily." He turned. "Are you willing to serve this family?"

I stepped forward and dropped my chin. "For the honor of this family, I am."

"Good." The gavel came down—figurative, but final. "Tonight, you move into the Don's chambers. And Leah—" He barely glanced at her. "You've proven your uselessness. The confinement room will give you ample time to contemplate it."

A shriek of pure animal despair tore from her throat. "NO—!"

The guards dragged her out.

I watched her go, my pulse steady as a frozen lake.

This is only the first chapter, Leah.

Everything you put me through in that other life—I'm collecting. With interest.