Chapter 5
Sebastian had always wanted a male figurehead.
He never said it directly to me.
He was too intelligent.
Instead, he praised tradition.
Asked whether the capos might feel “more secure” if I married inside the organization.
Suggested older men understood male leadership more naturally.
I answered every time the same way.
“They can learn.”
He smiled.
Obeyed.
Waited.
Then I married Evan Hale.
Outside the organization.
No Mafia title.
No inherited Vale loyalties.
Worse, he made me happy.
Men like Sebastian tolerate female power more easily when they believe it comes with loneliness.
Happiness made me harder to control.
Then pregnancy.
Twins.
One boy.
One girl.
Sebastian saw a future I had refused to discuss.
Miles.
Not as a baby.
As a male Vale.
A boy he could shape before I ever considered succession.
I summoned Nolan.
He had served my father years earlier before leaving the organization for hospital security.
That was why he recognized the ring.
“Did Sebastian know you were here?”
Nolan hesitated.
“Yes.”
My face hardened.
“How?”
“He asked me two weeks ago whether Vale protection covered this floor.”
“And you answered?”
“I said hospital security was neutral.”
Good.
“What did he ask next?”
Whether the head of the family had registered under an alias.
My pregnancy had been kept quiet from most Vale crews.
Only senior men knew the hospital.
Sebastian knew everything.
Of course.
Nolan continued.
“He also asked whether family members could enter the recovery suite without Vale clearance.”
That was the route.
He was mapping access.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
Nolan looked ashamed.
“I thought he was protecting you.”
There.
The old poison.
Rank interpreted as good intent.
I looked at him.
“You served my father.”
“Yes.”
“Did Sebastian outrank you then?”
“Yes.”
“Does he now?”
Nolan looked toward my ring.
“No.”
“Then remember that.”
He nodded.
Good.
No humiliation.
Correction.
Then he gave me something worse.
One security guard had received a private instruction before Doreen entered the suite.
If Seraphina became “agitated,” treat Doreen as the family authority.
I laughed softly.
Doreen.
Family authority over the boss of the Vale organization.
Sebastian had counted on two things.
The hospital not knowing who I was.
And me being too weak after surgery to correct them.
He was almost right.
May you like
Except Nolan knew the ring.
And I had pressed the panic button before the plan could become normal.
