The Don's Rotted Flower.

On the night of the storm, as I gave birth to the Valenti heir, Tanner didn’t even spare me a glance.

He finished a cigar outside the delivery room, then tossed a one-way ticket out of the country and a set of divorce papers onto my bed.

"Renee's background is clean. She's the only one I want as the Godmother of this family."

"Sign it. For giving me a son, this check is more than enough for you to disappear."

"I'm taking the child. A woman like you—hands stained with blood, mind filled with our secrets—is unfit to raise the future Don of this family."

I didn’t say a word, just picked up the gold-plated fountain pen and signed.

Any slower and I would have risked missing the private jet Julian had waiting for me.

Three months later, Renee showed up at my private tattoo studio, The Ink Parlor.

She had specifically requested me—the most expensive and sought-after tattoo artist in the underworld.

Wearing a backless dress, she wanted the Valenti family’s eagle crest tattooed on her back.

It was the mark of the Godmother.

I pushed open the studio door just in time to hear her cooing into her phone.

"Don't worry, Tanner. I'm about to show that bitch who really owns Chicago."

————————

1

I pulled on my black gloves and scanned the appointment sheet.

Renee.

Before Tanner exiled me, her name was a forbidden topic in the family—the one name he could never truly let go of.

He called her his "innocent flower," the only untainted thing in his filthy world.

I once imagined he’d found some kind of saint.

Turns out, she was just a stripper from a high-end club.

I remember the day I gave birth. A thunderstorm knocked out the power to the estate, and I was bleeding out on the table.

The old butler, frantic, called Tanner twelve times.

No answer.

Meanwhile, the underworld tabloids ran a story about him buying out every luxury brand in Milan, just to see Renee smile.

For a Don of Tanner's stature, no one would dare leak a story he didn't approve.

He wasn't hiding her anymore.

He was paving the way for his new whore.

After the doctors pulled me back from the brink, Tanner finally showed up.

He slowly adjusted his cufflinks, his gaze as cold and hard as steel. "Wesley, you're a profound disappointment."

"Did you really have to stoop so low? Having a child just to pass some family test? It's crude."

"I don't love you. The child is an inconvenience, but the family needs an heir."

"Take the money and disappear. Don't make me put a hit on you…"

Before he could finish, his encrypted phone rang.

He answered, his voice instantly softening. "Renee…"

"Tanner, has my birthday surprise arrived?"

"Did that old hag sign the papers yet? I can't wait to move into the master bedroom."

"I heard she bled a lot? Ugh, how disgusting. Make sure you have all the sheets changed. I hate the smell of blood."

Tanner chuckled. "You're so delicate. For you, I'll have the whole house burned to the ground and built anew."

"The gift is on its way. And tonight, I'm going to make you scream my name…"

Tanner hung up without another look at me, and certainly not at the infant being carried away by the nanny.

Good. My heart was already dead.

At least the child was safe, for now. And I still held the keys to the family’s encrypted accounts. That was all that mattered.

The old Consigliere handed me the check, his gaze heavy with a conflict he couldn't voice. "Mrs. Valenti," he said, his tone low, "the Don says this is your severance. You are to leave this city, or disappear for good."