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."

Elias Lennox's eyes flickered with resentment at the words.

But the moment he thought of Theo Vale, he lowered his gaze again and stopped fighting it.

I watched him, a faint scorn surfacing in my eyes.

Elias was a gifted actor. In my past life I'd loved him to ruin, never once catching the patience and loathing he hid beneath the smooth Capo's calm.

Seeing that I said nothing, Arthur Marlowe tapped his signet ring twice against the long oak table and pressed me. "Miss Hale, who exactly did you choose? Name him early, so the Commission can prepare a fitting tribute for the man."

Even as he asked, his gaze had already settled on Elias.

I glanced, as if by chance, at Lucian Ashford sitting in the far corner of the room, and smiled.

"At the Family gathering in seven days, I'll announce the name of my successor."

A ripple of murmurs went through the room, and every eye drifted, deliberately or not, toward Elias.

Without a word between them, every Capo at the sit-down had already decided Elias was the one.

The gloom on Lucian's face deepened.

I said nothing more. In my heels, I walked out of the estate without a backward glance, the enforcers at the door stepping aside as I passed.

That Capo had been right. Everyone in the Five Families knew I'd loved Elias to the bone.

In my past life, I had thrown every resource the Hale name commanded into raising him up, laid my own place at the head of the Family into his hands, and willingly carried his child.

I never imagined that from beginning to end, the only one in his heart was Theo.

For her sake, Elias tore the Hale Family apart, sold us to a rival syndicate, drove my parents to their deaths, and killed both me and my unborn baby.

At the thought, my eyes stung. I took out my phone and sent Lucian a message.

He replied almost instantly. "I'm a mad dog that bites anyone in reach. Are you sure you want to hold my leash?"

I stared at his message, lost for a moment.

If Lucian was a mad dog that bit anyone in reach, then Elias was a white-eyed wolf who'd devour a person and not spit out the bones.

My gaze darkened. Without hesitation, I answered him.

"Yes."

Lucian didn't reply, and I thought nothing of it.

That evening, I attended the bidding, a gathering where the wealthiest names on our side of the territory came to test their standing against one another beneath the glitter of chandeliers and the low watchfulness of a hundred soldiers.

I hadn't expected to see Elias there, standing at the center of a crowd, soaking up their flattery like a man born to it.

The instant he saw me, his brow furrowed, displeasure flashing across his face.

"Miles Hale, are you following me?"

"I've already told you. I can name you my successor and hand you the Family, but I won't marry you."

"I, Elias Lennox, don't climb by riding a woman's skirts."

Just like in my past life, in front of others Elias always wore this aloof, cold façade.

As if he were the one being forced into the arrangement.

Yet without the Hale name behind him, Elias wouldn't even have qualified to set foot on this floor.

At his words, the eyes of the men and women around us shifted, again and again.

Almost in unison, their expressions took on a fawning cast, the way a room bends toward the man it believes will soon hold the power.

I nearly laughed from anger, and looked at him with something strange in my eyes.

"When did I ever say I was naming you my successor?"

Elias's tone was thick with contempt, his thumb sliding once along the underside of his signet ring.

"Miles, so now you've learned to play hard to get. But I'm not falling for it."

I couldn't be bothered to argue with him and turned to walk deeper into the hall.

Behind me, the whispers rose over the clink of glasses.

"I heard the Hale heiress spent ten years chasing after Elias like a lovesick girl. Isn't he giving her a little too much of a public snub?"

"Miles's humiliated in front of everyone and doesn't even fire back. Guess she really is head over heels for Elias…"

"So Elias must be the successor she's picked. We'd better hurry and get on his good side, before the Don's chair is his."

I stopped, just as I was about to set the rumors straight.

Out of nowhere, Theo came rushing over and slammed hard into me.

Before I could react, she was already on her knees, eyes brimming with tears, bowing her head to the floor before me.

"Miss Hale, I know you don't like me, but Elias and I really are just childhood friends. There's nothing between us at all."

"I'm apologizing to you, so please, let my family go. You had the Vale tribute choked off, and my father nearly died of a heart attack..."

She wept like a flower drenched in rain, the kind of tears that tugged at anyone's heart.

Around the gathering hall, plenty of made men were already turning accusing looks my way.

Elias was worse. He came charging over, furious, and shoved me aside with one hand.

I lost my footing and hit the marble in an ungainly heap.

"Miles Hale, there's nothing between Theo and me. What gives you the right to bully her like this!"

"No sense of right and wrong, throwing your weight around. Look at yourself. What is there about you for me to love?"

He gathered Theo into his arms, aching with tenderness for her, and the look he turned on me was pure disgust.

He led with accusation, just like he had for the past ten years.

Elias believed everything Theo said, no questions asked, stubbornly convinced I was the one abusing my blood and my standing in the Family.

In my past life, by now I'd probably have been sobbing my heart out, begging him to forgive me.

But now, my heart went cold, one degree at a time.

Theo's eyes were red from crying. "Miss Hale, please, just let my family go. I'm begging you..." Then, for the space of a single breath while Elias's gaze was fixed on me, her face snapped flat and dry, before the tears reassembled.

Cupping the wide bruise blooming on my knee, I pushed myself up off the marble.

"The Vale name will fall within three days. Mark my words."

The color drained from Theo's face in an instant.

Elias, past all restraint, clamped down hard on my arm. "What nonsense are you spouting? Apologize to Theo right now. Look how badly you've frightened her!"

I wrenched my arm free and let out a scornful laugh.

"I never talk nonsense. Burying the Vales is as easy as crushing an ant underfoot."

Elias's face darkened. His thumb slid to his signet ring and traced its underside, slow and deliberate.

"Fine. Very well."

"Miles Hale, this time let's see how many days you can hold out. Don't come crying to me to forgive you again!"

"Theo, we're leaving."

He scooped Theo up sideways into his arms and strode off, past soldiers who stepped aside without being asked.

She lay against his shoulder and, as if in challenge, winked at me.

Something ached low in my chest.

The year I was fifteen, my parents' enemies snatched me off neutral ground and doused me head to toe in gasoline.

I was scared out of consciousness, and when I opened my eyes again, I was already draped across Elias's back.

Alone, he'd hauled me on his back and struggled ten miles through the dark to escape.

In the end, his strength gone, he hid me away and drew off the men hunting us by himself.

Back then, watching his retreating figure through a blur of tears, I handed over every last piece of my heart to him.

But ten years had passed. Everything looked the same and nothing was. Elias was no longer the boy in my memory.

I gave a self-mocking smile and shook my head.

This life, I'd let go. I'd give him and Theo my blessing.

I didn't sob and beg Elias to forgive me the way I had in my past life.

Instead I turned and walked back into the hall, where the bidding was a duel of standing and every Capo in the room watched to see who flinched first.

Once I was seated, the man running the floor called the room to order and brought out the first piece.

A men's obsidian necklace, thirty million in laundered cash, radiating an air of restrained luxury.

I studied it with interest for a few moments and decided it would suit Lucian perfectly.

Fitting, really. He called himself a mad dog, so I'd get him a collar.

I gave my enforcer a small nod, and he raised the paddle at once.

Before he could say a word, Theo's coy voice rang out behind me.

"Thirty-five million."

"Elias, I'll buy this necklace and give it to you, a gift for the day the Commission names you the Family's heir."

I turned to find Elias and Theo seated right behind me.

Seeing me look over, Theo shrank back and nestled into Elias's arms.

Elias frowned, held her close with all his tenderness, and looked at me with eyes full of contempt.

"Miles Hale, what trouble are you looking to start now?"

I smiled at him and raised the paddle with my own hand.