They Called Her Worthless Because She Couldn’t Have Children—Until a Mafia Boss With Four Kids Said, “I Want Her” They did not sell Nora Hayes because she was beautiful.

Three weeks into the marriage, Nora received a phone call from the headmaster of St. Jude’s Preparatory Academy.

Leo had been in a fight.

Nora didn’t call Arthur. She ordered her driver and two armed guards to take her directly to the school.

When she walked into the headmaster’s office, Leo was sitting in a leather chair, holding a bloody tissue to his nose. Sitting across from him was a smug-looking boy with a bruised cheek, flanked by his mother—a woman wearing too much perfume and a coat that cost more than a car.

“Ah, Mrs. Costa,” Headmaster Vance said nervously. “Thank you for coming. Leo has been involved in an unprovoked altercation with Julian Romano.”

Nora’s blood went cold. Romano. The rival family.

“It wasn’t unprovoked,” Leo muttered, staring at the floor.

“Leo struck my son in the face!” Mrs. Romano shrieked. “He’s a violent thug, just like his father! He should be expelled!”

Nora walked calmly over to Leo, gently tilting his chin up to inspect his bloody nose. He flinched, but she didn’t scold him. She pulled a clean silk handkerchief from her purse and handed it to him.

Then, she turned to Mrs. Romano.

“What did your son say to him?” Nora asked, her voice dangerously soft.

“Julian is a perfect gentleman—”

“I asked,” Nora stepped forward, towering over the seated woman, “what he said.”

Julian shrank back under Nora’s icy glare. “I just said his dad had to buy a new mommy because the real one got blown to pieces!”

The room went dead silent.

Nora didn’t scream. She didn’t lose her temper. She slowly turned to the headmaster.

“My husband funds the new athletic wing of this academy, Mr. Vance. If Julian Romano is not suspended for five days for emotional harassment, I will have the funding pulled by 3:00 PM today. And I will personally see to it that Mrs. Romano is banned from every charity gala in Chicago.”

Mrs. Romano gasped. “You can’t do that!”

“I am a Costa,” Nora said coldly. “I can do whatever I want.”