I was an ordinary body collector from Millhaven, the forgotten neighborhood on the river where my family had performed the grim work of retrieving the dead for as long as anyone could remember. By chance, I pulled both Frederico Valente, heir to the most powerful syndicate in the Five Families, and the young capo Omero Rossetti from the water the night of a botched ambush. I became pregnant with Frederico's child.

On the day of our blood-bound union, Frederico never showed. He took his procession to the Volpe estate and married Chloe Volpe instead.

I tried to confront him, but Omero Rossetti stepped in my way.

He confessed that he was the one who'd gotten me pregnant that night. He said he was willing to marry me and take care of me for the rest of my life.

A month after the wedding, armed men descended on Millhaven. All one hundred and ten households were slaughtered. Not a single soul survived.

Standing before that mountain of corpses, I collapsed under the weight of my grief. I lost the baby.

Omero never left my side, never even changed out of his bloodstained clothes. It took a long time, but slowly, he pulled me back from the edge.

Three years later, I was pregnant again. I wanted to tell Omero the good news right away, but on my way to find him, I overheard a conversation between him and a friend in the back room of the social club.

"Omero, Frederico keeps undermining you at every turn. Doesn't that eat at you? Back then, you married Penelope Mancini for his sake and even claimed a child that wasn't yours."

"I didn't do it for him. I did it for Chloe. In the Families, the firstborn son inherits regardless of his mother's rank. If Penelope had given birth to a Valente heir first, how would Chloe ever secure her place in the compound?"

"We all know you're hopelessly in love with Chloe Volpe, but did you really have to massacre everyone in Millhaven to keep them quiet? The body collectors have been all but wiped out since then."

"I had no choice. The people in Millhaven knew too much. To eliminate any future threat, every last one of them had to die."

I had always believed that falling for Frederico Valente was the greatest mistake of my life. I never imagined that falling for Omero Rossetti would prove a far worse one.

……

"Just now, one of the maids from the compound came by. Your attendant turned her away, but I think I heard her say Penelope is pregnant..."

Omero's hand tightened around his teacup. It nearly slipped from his grip, but he was always composed. Within a breath, his expression smoothed over.

"I won't let her carry it to term."

"That's your own flesh and blood."

"Her womb carried another man's seed once. I find that repulsive. Besides, she spent her whole life handling corpses. Any child she bears could come out a freak."

Omero turned to the attendant standing nearby. "Tell Nora Bianchi to mix the poison into the lady's meals. Be careful about it. Don't let her find out."

His friend let out a sigh. "Penelope really is pitiful..."

Omero went still for a moment. His right hand moved to the inside of his left wrist and pressed hard against the pulse point, so brief anyone else would have missed it. His gaze turned dark and unreadable as he stared into his teacup. "I'll let her live out her days as my wife, comfortable and provided for. Consider it compensation."

I clamped a hand over my mouth and crumpled to the ground. Under the bewildered stares of the household staff around me, I scrambled back to the compound on my hands and knees.

In the darkness of my room, I wept alone.

So the man who had shared my bed that night was never Omero at all. And yet he had still married me, this tainted woman, willingly, all for Chloe Volpe.

He had even accepted a child that had nothing to do with him.

I remembered the day the soldiers slaughtered Millhaven. He had looked at my skirt, soaked through with blood, and wept until he could barely breathe.

He had sworn to me, voice shaking with conviction: "Penelope, I promise you, I won't let the villagers die in vain. And I won't let our child's sacrifice be for nothing."

He kept his word. Within three days, he tracked down the men responsible and killed every last one of them.

For years, I had been overwhelmed with gratitude toward him. It never once crossed my mind that all of it, every single piece, had been his doing from the start.

Nora Bianchi's voice came from outside the door. "My lady, your meal is ready."

"Leave it. I'm not hungry."

The food laced with poison. I didn't dare touch it.

When the Family doctor had last checked my pulse, he told me my body was weak, my womb cold and depleted. I needed to rest and take care of myself. If I miscarried again, I would never be able to bear children.

I wanted this child desperately. Before, it had been for Omero.

Now it was for the people of Millhaven who had died because of me.

I couldn't bring them back. Other than ensuring the body collector's legacy carried on, I didn't know what else I could do to make amends.

A long while later, heavy footsteps sounded in the courtyard.

"Boss, you're back. The lady refuses to eat."

"I'll handle it."

I wiped my tears in a rush, but my swollen, red-rimmed eyes gave me away.

Omero crouched in front of me and reached up to brush his thumb beneath my eyes, his voice aching with tenderness. "Crying and refusing to eat. Who's been bullying my Penny?"

"The little one in my belly, of course."

Omero went still for a fraction of a second, then broke into what looked like stunned delight. "Really? I'm going to be a father?"

"Really."

My heart was a cold cellar, but for the sake of my child, I had no choice but to play along. Somewhere beyond the compound walls, a car engine idled. One of his soldiers making rounds. The sound of the world going on as if nothing in this room mattered at all.

"Omero, what if... I'm just saying what if... you don't want this baby. I'll raise it on my own. I won't be a burden to you. Would that be all right?"

Something guarded flickered behind his eyes, but he forced a smile. His right hand moved to the inside of his left wrist and pressed there, just for a moment. "What are you talking about? How could I not love a child you gave me?"

"Come on, stop overthinking. Let's eat."

I looked at the table laden with dishes and turned my head away. The kitchen staff had prepared everything the way they always did — heavy plates, good silver, cloth napkins folded precisely. The household ran like a legitimate operation. Everything proper. Everything a lie.

Omero picked up a forkful of greens and set it on my plate, his voice soft. "Just a few bites. The baby needs you to eat."

He looked so devoted. How could any of it be an act?

But I knew. All of it was a lie.

"I really can't..."

His patience snapped. "You won't eat, but the baby has to. Stop acting like a child!"

He seized my jaw, fingers digging in, and tried to force the food into my mouth. The grip was the grip of a man accustomed to making people do what he wanted. Not a husband's hand. A capo's.

I wrenched free, but I understood his resolve now.

Despair closed over me like water. I blinked back tears and picked up my fork. "I'll eat."

Once this meal was finished, everything would be over.

In the dead of night, the pain tore through my abdomen. Blood seeped from between my legs, spreading across the sheets in a slow, dark stain.

Omero called out toward the door, and Dr. Pastore walked in at once, as though he had been waiting just outside. He was already rolling his sleeves, wiping his hands on a cloth with a thoroughness that had nothing to do with hygiene.

The agony had blurred my vision, but I still heard Dr. Pastore's careful, measured words: "Boss, the lady's previous miscarriage already damaged her body. If we don't intervene now, she may never conceive again."

Silence. The room held its breath. Then Omero spoke. "It doesn't matter. Do as I told you. When I take a woman someday and she bears children, I'll give one to Penelope to raise in her old age."

"Understood, Boss."

So it was true. He thought I was filthy. He had never wanted a child with me.

The last ember of hope inside me turned to ash.

Dr. Pastore was still working to save me when one of Chloe Volpe's attendants burst through the door. "Boss, the Don's daughter-in-law has been suffering from stomach pains today. She's requesting Dr. Pastore come examine her."

Omero's expression changed instantly, open concern written across every line of his face. Without a moment's hesitation, he grabbed Dr. Pastore by the arm and pulled him toward the door. A man who wouldn't lift a finger to save the child in my womb moved like the compound was on fire for Chloe Volpe's stomachache.

Ruby Ferraro, my attendant, threw herself at Omero's legs and clung on. "Boss, if you take Dr. Pastore now, the lady will die!"

"La Principessa only has a stomachache. Any Family doctor can see to that. But my lady is hanging by a thread..."

"Please, Boss, have mercy on her..."

"Insolent wretch! La Principessa is the Don's daughter-in-law. Who are you, a servant, to decide her care?"

Omero's mind was already gone from this room. He kicked Ruby aside and tossed an order at the household staff without looking back. "Make some broth. Keep her alive."

"The moment La Principessa is fine, I'll bring Dr. Pastore back."

Ruby scrambled to follow, but I stopped her. "Ruby, don't. Let him go."

Her eyes were swollen and red. She pressed her thumbnail hard into the pad of her index finger until the skin went white. She looked at me, heartbroken. "My lady, wait for me. I'll go find a doctor."

I struggled to prop myself up and pulled a box from beneath the bed. Inside lay the Body Collector's Iron Medallion, cold and heavy in its velvet lining. I pressed it into Ruby's hands.

"Ruby, take this into the Valente compound. Give it to Don Valente himself and tell him Penelope Mancini is calling in her favor. Tell him I want annulment papers."

Years ago, when the Old Don had traveled to Millhaven personally to bring Frederico and the Rossetti boy back from the river, he'd been so grateful for my saving their lives that he promised me one request. Anything I asked. A blood debt, sworn on his name.

I had never dared waste that chance. Now, finally, it had a purpose.

Omero didn't return with Dr. Pastore until the following afternoon.

By then, the physician Ruby had summoned was already on his way out.

Omero caught the physician by the arm. "How is my wife?"

"She'll live. But I'm afraid..."

Omero's voice dropped low, unsteady in a way I'd rarely heard when it concerned me. "Afraid of what?"

The physician shook his head with a heavy sigh. "Her body is ruined. She'll spend the rest of her life in pain."

Something like guilt flickered across Omero's face. His right hand moved to the inside of his left wrist, pressing hard against the pulse point for just a moment before he gathered me into his arms, my body limp as a threadbare rag. "I'm sorry, Penny. It's not that I didn't want to help you, but Chloe Volpe is carrying the Valente heir. I couldn't afford the delay..."

I gritted my teeth against the pain and pulled myself free of his embrace. I shook my head. "It's fine. You were up all night, Omero. Go rest."

His hands hung frozen in the air where I'd been. His voice came out scraped raw. "Are you angry with me, Penny?"

I closed my eyes. My answer was flat, toneless. "This outsider wouldn't dare."

"Outsider?"

Omero caught the shift instantly. He stared at me as though I'd spoken a foreign language.

Before, I had always called myself "your wife" in his presence.

Now I'd changed the word. The line between us, drawn clean.

"Yes. This outsider was born lowly. From the old neighborhood. Naturally, I can't be compared to the Don's daughter-in-law. So you did the right thing, Omero. This outsider wouldn't dare hold it against you."

A violent cough tore through me, and blood splattered from my lips. Omero saw it, and for once, he asked nothing more.

He rubbed slow circles on my back, his voice softening. "You've always been the most sensible one, Penny. I was overthinking it. Rest now. Your husband will stay right here. I'm not going anywhere."

I didn't know how long I slept before the noise from the courtyard dragged me awake.

The moment I opened my eyes, I saw Ruby sprawled in the center of the yard, a rod cracking down across her body again and again.

Her clothes were soaked through with blood. Each breath she drew looked like it might be her last.

Chloe Volpe sat nearby in a wrought-iron chair, watching with cold, disinterested eyes. Her fingers traced the edge of her rosary with slow, almost loving precision.

When Omero saw me stir, he didn't bother explaining. He simply pressed my shoulders back down. "The Don's daughter-in-law is disciplining a servant. Don't interfere, Penny."

I had braced myself for some grave offense. But the crime, it turned out, was nothing more than this: after delivering the annulment petition to Don Valente, Ruby had taken it upon herself to summon a physician for me.

The Old Don and his wife already carried guilt over Frederico breaking off his blood-bound union with me. When they learned what had happened, they'd rebuked Chloe harshly.

Called her vicious. Said she'd shown callous disregard for another woman's life.

Chloe couldn't touch me, not with the Don and his wife shielding me. So she'd turned her fury on Ruby instead.

I watched Ruby's broken body twitch with each blow, barely clinging to life, and the tears wouldn't stop.

I seized Omero's sleeve and begged. "Omero, please save Ruby. Every fault is mine, all of it."

"She was only worried about me."

Omero's expression pinched with reluctance. "Penny, she's just a servant. Let the Don's daughter-in-law vent her anger and it'll blow over."

I stared at that handsome face of his, so perfectly composed, so perfectly human, and could not fathom the rottenness it concealed.

Because we were born lowly, our lives simply didn't matter?

Mine didn't. Ruby's didn't. And neither had the hundred-some families of Millhaven.

I couldn't hold it in any longer. The words ripped out of me, raw and bleeding. "Is that what you told yourself when you slaughtered Millhaven, Omero? That they were just a bunch of lowborn nobodies?"

Omero flinched as if I'd driven a blade between his ribs. His hand shot to my throat and squeezed, his eyes splitting red with fury.