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.

The dining room table was long enough to seat twenty, but tonight it held only six. The silence was deafening, broken only by the clinking of silverware against expensive china.

Nora sat at the opposite end of the table from Arthur. The four children were seated between them, glaring at their plates. None of them had touched the roasted chicken Mrs. Gable had prepared.

“Eat,” Arthur ordered, slicing his own food with military precision.

“It’s dry,” Mia muttered, pushing her plate away.

“It’s poison,” Ben, one of the six-year-old twins, whispered loudly to his brother, Sam.

Leo threw his fork onto the table. It made a loud, sharp clatter.

“I’m not eating with her,” Leo announced, staring directly at Nora. “She’s just a gold digger. How much did he pay for you, anyway?”

“Leo,” Arthur’s voice carried a dangerous warning, but Nora held up her hand, stopping him.

She looked calmly down the table at the fourteen-year-old boy. He was hurting, lashing out because it was the only way he knew how to protect his siblings.

“Three million dollars,” Nora answered plainly, cutting a piece of chicken.

The entire table went completely still. Even Arthur paused.

“My father owed a debt to the Romanos,” Nora continued, eating a bite of her food. “Your father bought the debt in exchange for my hand in marriage. I am not here to steal your inheritance, Leo. And I am not here to replace your mother. You only get one mother, and I know she was wonderful.”

Mia’s eyes welled with sudden tears.

“Then why are you here?” Leo demanded, though his voice had lost some of its venom.

“Because I can’t have children of my own,” Nora said honestly, looking at each of them. “And because your father thought you needed someone to make sure you actually eat your dinner instead of throwing forks.”

She picked up a bowl of mashed potatoes and offered it to Ben.