His eyes raced across the page.

"Infertile—"

Before he could finish, I snatched it out of his hand.

Surprise crossed his face. "Elodie. You can't have children?"

So he hadn't caught the name on it.

I had no intention of telling him otherwise. I just admitted it. "That's right, Leon. You'll never have an heir!"

"No. Elodie, you're lying to me, aren't you?" Leon's hands clamped down on both my arms, and a faint sheen of water rose in those deep dark eyes.

In that moment I saw it clearly, a last scrap of feeling left in him.

But after a thousand heartbreaks, I no longer wanted it.

"Let go of me!" I fought against him, but his hands held me like cast iron.

The next second, a strong hand caught mine and yanked me back. "Didn't you hear her tell you to let go?"

Leon's hand flew to his waist and he leveled a gun at us. "Cole. You bastard, how you dare talk to me like that? Let her go, do you hear me!"

Cole pulled me behind him on instinct. "And what if I don't?"

"You fucking die!"

Leon racked the slide, and just as he was about to pull the trigger, I threw myself between them and shouted, "Leon, what the hell are you doing!"

When he saw me, Leon put the gun away.

I shot him a glare, turned to Cole, and said, "Let's go."

Watching Elodie leave with Cole, the rage Leon had been holding down in his chest came surging up.

He moved to chase after them, but Mia caught his hand. "Doesn't this whole thing seem off to you?"

"It was just a routine termination. How does that leave a woman unable to have children?"

Leon's brow knit tight. "You're saying she lied to me?"

Mia pressed her lips together and said nothing.

He let out a cold grunt. "Lied or not, I can't take that risk."

With that, he closed his hand around Mia's. "Come home with me. Starting today, you stay at the estate and take care of the baby."

Once we'd left the hospital, Cole asked me, "Elodie, are you really sure about this?"

"Why? You don't want to be Don?"

"Of course I do. For years Leon's used that title to butcher God knows how many ordinary people and slaughter God knows how many innocents. It's just, with my standing—"

"Standing is something you take for yourself, not something other people decide for you. You have seven days. Settle every holding and every account the family has. Seven days from now, the Ashford family gets a new head."